The Irish unit of Scotiabank, one of a group of Canadian banks that have based their EU hubs in the State following Brexit, saw its net profit jump 70 per cent to $319.1 million (€279 million) last year. This was amid a surge in trading income from hedge funds and other investment firms on equity products. Scotiabank Ireland also said in its annual report for the year through last October, filed this week with the Companies Registration Office (CRO), that it planned to pay a $315 million dividend to its Toronto parent on last year’s earnings, following a $95 million payout in 2025. Total assets for the Dublin-based bank, which reports its results in US dollars, grew by 40 per cent last year to $14.2 billion, driven almost entirely by a jump in equities held for trading purposes, to $6 billion. Scotiabank’s Irish business was set up in 1966, making it the longest-established Canadian bank in the Republic. It was among a financial group from the country – also including Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Montreal and National Bank of Canada – that converted their exiting Irish operations into European hubs following the Brexit vote a decade ago. Canadian banks that moved operations to Ireland following the referendum have since grown their headcount by more than 50 per cent and have set up multiple functions from their Irish bases, ranging from technology, capital markets, and corporate banking to environmental, and research and development, IDA Ireland said in a note published last year. Scotiabank is the trading name of a group incorporated as the Bank of Nova Scotia. Led by chief executive Nicola Vavasour, Scotiabank Ireland operates within the wider Canadian group’s global banking and markets division, which provides corporate and investment clients with lending and transaction services, investment banking advice and access to capital markets. The unit had 104 employees at the end of last year, more than double the 47 roles it had a decade earlier. Net trading income from business related to equities in its prime services division – a brokerage to hedge funds, asset managers, and other institutional investors – jumped to $197.6 million from $4.65 million a year earlier. Total trading income amounted to $244.7 million for 2025. Net interest income dipped 12 per cent to $196.4 million while general fee and commission income rose 65 per cent to $39.4 million. Scotiabank Ireland also engaged in large transactions with its parent to reshuffle the components of its capital base, without having an effect on its overall capital position. It issued $800 million of stock to the Scotiabank group last July, increasing its share capital. However, it immediately paid an $800 million special dividend, lowering the retained earnings component of its capital base. Its common equity Tier 1 capital – a key measure of capital reserves – rose slightly to $2 billion last year, even after stripping out the $315 million planned dividend.