Toronto-based Scotiabank lost almost 15,000 full-time employees since the pandemic as other large Canadian banks boosted their head counts.
A Star analysis of the Big Five banks’ self-reported full-time employee numbers found that Scotiabank went from having 101,380 workers in 2019 to 86,431 in 2025.
In recent months, several social media posts show Scotiabank employees feeling low morale as the bank has been cutting jobs amid a massive restructuring effort.
Earlier this year, Scotiabank notified the federal government that it would be terminating a couple thousand workers in Toronto, months before news of layoffs surfaced in October.
“I know this is how things go but that doesn’t make it any better or easier for anyone,” a Reddit user wrote four months ago.
“I’m likely to be a casualty of the next wave (of layoffs) … time to polish up my resumé..”
Another user wrote in October, “My thoughts go out to everyone who’s been affected. I’m currently on extended leave and have been feeling anxious all day.”
In a written statement, Scotiabank spokesperson Claire Dawson said the bank has been taking steps to “rightsize” its international business as it repositions its global footprint.
Scotiabank has ceased operations in several Latin American countries, choosing to focus instead on its businesses in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.
“The bank has exited approximately 30 non-core markets over the past ten years as part of these strategic efforts, resulting in changes to our global workforce,” Dawson wrote.
As well, analysts who cover the bank closely say that senior management may be trying to improve profits by cutting costs, given that Scotiabank’s shares delivered the worst total returns out of the big banks — RBC, TD, BMO, CIBC and Scotiabank — since 2019.
“Any business which is not delivering the results that are expected by shareholders, or just even comparable to their peers, they do these kinds of things,” said Shalabh Garg, analyst at Veritas Investment Research, referring to the October layoffs.
“If you just think of a bank, the largest cost is your human capital expense or your employee expense,” he added, “So, if you are struggling on margins, if you have certain unprofitable products or channels or teams; this is the approach most of them will end up taking.”
Garg also said that the banks’ technology expenses have been going up as they try to figure out how to optimize the use of artificial intelligence.
Shokhrukh Temurov, analyst at Morningstar DBRS, speculated that the riskier economic environment could be behind some layoff decisions lately.
Temurov said that Scotiabank is more exposed than other banks to uncertainty around Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) negotiations. That’s because the bank focuses on serving businesses that trade between those countries.
“If business activity slows down, obviously banking services are also affected,” he said.
Still, bank stocks generally had a good year in relation to other companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. And Scotiabank reported solid earnings in the fourth quarter and in the 2025 fiscal year.
Meanwhile, the other four banks have taken a different approach that led to more hiring since 2019, mainly through investments and acquisitions.
BMO saw its full-time workforce grow by almost 17 per cent after it bought Bank of the West in the U.S. in 2023. RBC experienced similar growth rates since acquiring HSBC Bank Canada in 2024.
TD boosted its workforce by nearly 15 per cent, while CIBC saw a 10 per cent jump.
