TORONTO and NEW YORK, December 6,
2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Scotiabank announced today partnerships with two prominent
Israeli technology leaders, Viola Group and Team8. These
partnerships further establish Scotiabank as a leader in the global
innovation ecosystem and will help accelerate its development of
technology capabilities, best-in-class customer experiences, and
expertise in cybersecurity.
Scotiabank is investing in Viola FinTech I, L.P., a new venture
fund that will invest in Israeli, European and North American
FinTechs across various growth stages. The fund will co-invest
alongside other leading global venture capital, private equity and
financial institution investors. Their mission is to create mutual
value by bridging the gap between financial institutions and
innovative startups. The fund is led by Avi
Zeevi, Prof. Daniel Tsiddon and Tomer Michaeli, an exceptionally experienced
team with proven track records in banking, entrepreneurship and
investment.
"We are delighted to partner with Viola Group to accelerate the
Bank's digital transformation and work with the most promising
FinTechs across the globe," said Ignacio (Nacho) Deschamps, Group
Head, International Banking and Digital Transformation at
Scotiabank. "This partnership will allow us to access Israel's
innovation ecosystem including well-established cybersecurity and
anti-fraud expertise by leveraging Viola Group's unique
entrepreneurial and operational expertise."
"We are honoured to work with a world-class financial
institution such as Scotiabank which is truly committed to
innovation and its customers worldwide," said Prof. Daniel Tsiddon,
principal of Viola Fintech. "We already see early results of this
long-term collaboration and we look forward to working with
Scotiabank to accelerate the integration of innovative ideas."
Scotiabank and Team8, Israel's most prestigious cybersecurity
think tank and company-creation platform, will work together to
foster cybersecurity innovation, through the exchange of knowledge,
insights, and methodologies. An executive from Scotiabank will
sit on Team8's advisory board alongside Chief Information and
Security Officers of other global financial institutions.
"We look forward to our partnership with Team8 to deepen our
technology capabilities and know-how, which are foundational to
Scotiabank's digital transformation," said Michael Zerbs, Chief Technology Officer at
Scotiabank. "This partnership will increase our access to Israel's
world-class cybersecurity and fraud prevention ecosystem."
"We are thrilled that Scotiabank will play a role in our unique
company creation model to solve the big problems in cybersecurity.
It is truly a win-win partnership," said Nadav Zafrir, CEO and Co-Founder of Team8 and
former Commander of Israeli Intelligence Unit 8200. "Joining our
advisory board and pioneering our community of chief information
security officers represents Scotiabank's deep commitment to our
shared vision of partnering with the industry to empower resilience
within organizations. Their insights and experience bring
incredible value to our approach."
Israel has become known as the "Start-up Nation" and one of the
premier places for high-tech firms and innovation. These
partnerships are part of a broad digital transformation strategy
the Bank is undertaking, which spans over multiple geographies and
multiple strategic alliances, such as existing venture capital
relationships with QED Investors, Georgian Partners and ScaleUP
Ventures. Execution of this strategy has also yielded the creation
of the Digital Factories in Canada, Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru, and the establishment of partnerships
with academic institutions.
About Scotiabank
Scotiabank is Canada's
international bank and a leading financial services provider in
North America, Latin America, the Caribbean and Central America, and Asia-Pacific. We are dedicated to helping our
24 million customers become better off through a broad range of
advice, products and services, including personal and commercial
banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and
investment banking, and capital markets. With a team of more than
88,000 employees and assets of over $915
billion (as at October 31,
2017), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto (TSX: BNS) and New York Exchanges
(NYSE: BNS). For more information, please
visit http://www.scotiabank.com and follow us on Twitter
@Scotiabank.
About Viola Group
Viola Group, with over $2.8
Billion under management, is Israel's premier technology
oriented private equity investment group. Viola Group aims to
provide long term, world-class returns by identifying and pursuing
attractive investment strategies in the vibrant Israeli technology
market. Viola Group is comprised of focused independent
partnerships including a venture fund, a debt fund and a growth
fund. Viola is currently establishing its FinTech arm - a
global cross stage FinTech focused venture fund. The group funds,
backed by leading global institutional investors from all over the
world, have invested in over 200 technology companies. The group
was co-founded by Avi Zeevi who is
considered Israel's leading Fintech investor.
About Team 8
Team8, Israel's most prestigious cybersecurity think tank and
venture creation foundry, develops disruptive companies that
challenge the biggest problems in cybersecurity today. The Team8
innovation process combines a research team with intimate knowledge
of both offensive and defensive aspects of cybersecurity, access to
the best cyber talent, and a global syndicate that provides access
to customers, partners and key influencers. Team8 was founded by
leading cybersecurity experts Nadav
Zafrir, Israel Grimberg and
Liran Grinberg, all with deep ties
to Israel's famous IDF Technology & Intelligence Unit 8200. It
is backed by Microsoft Ventures, Cisco, AT&T, Accenture,
Qualcomm, Nokia, Temasek, Mitsui, Bessemer Venture Partners,
Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors
and Marker LLC. For more information on Team8, please visit
http://www.team8.vc
For media enquiries only: Marcelo Gomez-Wiuckstern, Global
Communications, Scotiabank, +1-416-933-1344,
marcelo.gomez-wiuckstern@scotiabank.com; Tomer Michali, Partner, Viola Fintech,
Tomerm@violafintec.com; Matthew
Krieger, GKPR for Team8, Matthew@gkpr.com, +972-54-467-6950;
Investor Relations: Adam Borgatti,
Scotiabank, +1-416-866-5042, adam.borgatti@scotiabank.com
