Bank of Nova Scotia is looking at asset management businesses focused on wealthy individuals in Latin America and the Caribbean, an executive has told Bloomberg.

The bank at present has 12 investment offices in Latin America and the Caribbean and intends to open 13 more in, for example, Costa Rica, Panama, Chile and Mexico. It is targeting those with over $500,000 to invest.

Dan Wright, senior vice president and head of international wealth management, said: “Some organisations are looking at their businesses and making the decision that they may not be core to their future. Latin America and the Caribbean are very core to us as an organisation.”

Mr Wright was quoted as having said that the bank’s international wealth business, which includes the private client group, has more than $20 billion in assets under administration and that assets have been growing by about 15 per cent a year, while revenue has risen 30 per cent. It does not disclose profit or the number of clients from its asset management operations.

The bank’s first private client office in the US opens on 29 June 2009 in Miami.