Scotiabank Partners and NXTP Labs, an Argentina-based venture capital firm and accelerator, have announced a partnership to accelerate fintech startups from Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and Peru.

(Press Release) Scotiabank announced today a new and innovative partnership between Canada and Latin America’s leading start-up accelerator, NXTP Labs, at the Fintech Conference 2017 in Bogotá, Colombia.

This strategic partnership will allow the Bank to access to the most promising Fintechs in Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and Peru, and leverage these countries’ innovative start-up ecosystems to help drive its global digital banking transformation.

“We are thrilled to partner with Latin America’s premier start-ups accelerator to further advance our global digital banking strategy”, said Nacho Deschamps, Group Head, International Banking and Digital Transformation. “This partnership will allow us to gain competitive advantage, accelerate innovation, and form Fintech partnerships to offer innovative solutions to our 24 million customers.”

At the Fintech Conference 2017 in Bogota, Scotiabank also announced a special award for the Fintech with the most innovative solution and potential for development. The selected Fintech will be chosen at the end of the conference from the 35 start-ups that participated in NXTP Labs’ 2017 Acceleration Program. The selected Fintech will be invited to Canada to meet Scotiabank’s digital team in Toronto, explore partnership opportunities and discover Toronto’s innovation ecosystem.

“This partnership and prize will allow us to gain early visibility on transformative trends and technologies in the industry by leveraging our expertise and global scale,” said Thayde Olarte, Vice President Fintech Partnership, Innovation. “We look forward to boosting our engagement in the Latin American start-up ecosystems to delight our customers across our footprint with simple, personalized banking experiences.”

NXTP Labs is a premier Latin American start-up accelerator with a vast regional network that supports and scales companies with innovative technology solutions. NXTP Labs offers a highly experienced and diverse management team, and is one of the most active early stages Venture Capital funds in Latin America, with significant institutional support and deep regional networks. 35 Fintechs from Latin America participated in NXTP Labs’ 2017 Acceleration Program over 12 weeks and received more than 500 hours of mentorship from over 170 mentors.

This partnership is part of a broad digital transformation strategy the Bank is undertaking, which spans over multiple geographies and multiple strategic alliances with leading Fintechs and venture capital firms such as QED Investors. As part of this transformation, five digital factories were open in our priority markets to deliver innovative solutions for Scotiabank customers.