* Scotiabank gets Chilean corporate, commercial operations
* Second deal for Toronto-based bank this month
* RBS pulling back from global markets
* Financial terms of transaction not disclosed (Adds background and comment. In U.S. dollars unless noted)
By Cameron French
TORONTO, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Bank of Nova Scotia
Toronto-based Scotiabank will take on about $900 million in assets with the takeover, it said. The bank did not disclose the terms of the transaction, saying they were not financially material.
Scotiabank first entered the Chilean market in 1990, and is now the country's seventh-largest lender with total assets there of $10.4 billion. In Latin America, Scotiabank has more than 32,000 employees and 1,889 branches.
"(The transaction) represents the continued potential to grow our operation in this country," Jim Callahan, Scotiabank's Chilean general manager, said in a statement.
The deal is Scotiabank's second Latin American takeover in
as many weeks, following the purchase of Commerzbank AG's
It's also the second deal this year that Scotiabank has entered into with RBS, following its takeover of the Scottish bank's wholesale operations in Colombia in March.
RBS inherited the Chilean operations when it bought ABN Amro in 2007. It has since been pulling back from global markets.
Scotiabank is hoping to capitalize on economic growth in the developing world that is expected to far outpace growth in North America and Europe. It has said it hopes to expand its wholesale unit in regions where it already has a retail bank presence.
"This move definitely fits their (method of operating)," said Craig Fehr, an analyst at Edward Jones in St. Louis, Missouri.
"They've been in Chile for 20 years now, and I think that's enough time for them to feel like they have a good handle on the local market and how they can operate there, and that's typically when we would see them try to start to ramp up their exposure."
Canada's big lenders have signaled they are eager to spend capital to drive growth following increased clarity on bank capital rules. The new rules are expected to be finalized in November.
Scotiabank's shares were up 1 Canadian cent at C$53.86 on the Toronto Stock Exchange early on Monday afternoon.
($1=$1.03 Canadian) (Reporting by Cameron French; editing by Peter Galloway)