Close Brothers Group, acquired the Cayman Island representative banking, agency and fund administration businesses of the Canadian Scotiabank Group for an undisclosed amount, the company confirmed today. The deal made Close Brothers the largest provider of representative banking on the island, according to Linburgh Martin, a managing director with the firm, a business Close had not previously provided in the region. “The acquisition from Scotiabank is a business transforming deal that fills out certain existing business lines and makes us the market leader in the bank representation business, which is a new business for us,” Mr Martin told WealthBriefing. The Scotiabank administration business will be added to Close’s existing Cayman administration business. Mr Martin said it was too early to disclose the cost of the acquisition. Michel Normandeau, Scotiabank senior manager fund services and Carmen Thompson-Lopez, Scotiabank manager corporate services, will lead the new business units within Close Brothers as they are transferred to the new owner. Currently 55 professionals make up the existing Cayman Close Brothers staff; 9 new staff will join from the acquired business lines, Mr Martin said. Close Bank (Cayman) is a banking affiliate of the larger group that specialised in deposit taking services for companies, ordinary non-resident companies, and non-resident individuals. Scotiabank has operated in Cayman Islands since 1968. In 2003 the banking and trust divisions merged to form Scotiabank & Trust (Cayman). In 2005, Scotiabank introduced internet banking in Cayman and currently before the Close deal had around 100 employees, five ATMs and three branches on Grand Cayman. Scotiabank & Trust offered clients retail, commercial and trust services, including electronic cash management ad offshore banking services. Scotiabank said in a statement it made the strategic decision to discontinue its services with respect to representative banking, agency and fund administration businesses in Cayman so that it could concentrate on and expand its core retail and commercial services as well as administration of offshore trusts and managed companies. The acquisition of the Scotiabank business units followed the acquisition of the Cayman trust and corporate business units from Dresdner Bank two years ago. “Being our second acquisition within the last two years, this is a significant step for Close Brothers… We are a company that has grown rapidly in recent years,” Mr Martin said.