Bank purchase.

BANK PURCHASE. Bank of Nova Scotia, Canada's third-largest bank by assets, has agreed to buy Citigroup Inc.'s consumer-banking business in the Dominican Republic as it acquires international assets to boost revenue, reports Bloomberg News (April 20, 2006). The purchase includes three branches, consumer loans and a credit card portfolio, the Toronto-based bank said. The purchase price wasn't disclosed. Scotiabank is using part of its excess cash to buy rivals in the 50 countries where it already operates because mergers among Canada's biggest banks are prohibited. The Canadian lender, which has 370 branches in the Caribbean, more than doubled its size in the Dominican Republic in 2003 to become the fifth-biggest in the country after buying the failed Banco Intercontinental SA. Scotiabank has been in the country since 1920, and has 57 branches and more than 1,000 workers. Citigroup will continue to offer corporate and international banking in the Dominican Republic.