Scotiabank, the third largest bank in Canada by deposits and market capitalization, has joined hands with Latin American fintech  Accelerator  Accelerator An accelerator or startup accelerator is defined as fixed-term programs that look to foster investment, connections, sales, and education to kindle growth in a project.Most commonly this effort constitutes a public pitch event, demos, and other forms of marketing. Startup accelerators are most commonly associated with Silicon Valley, a global hub for investing and fintech.Startup accelerators however are a global phenomenon that privately funded as an investment fund. This nature of investing helps extend equity style investing to a wide range of industries. Different Types of Startup AcceleratorsThere are multiple types of accelerators, which have evolved to reflect a new form of investing assistance to entrepreneurs.This includes hardware accelerators, AI accelerators, Biotech accelerators, and China cross-border accelerators.Of note, startup accelerators do differ from incubators, which are another component of the fintech lifecycle.In particular, the application process is open to anyone for startup accelerators, though very competitive. Furthermore, the focus for startup accelerators is on small teams not an individual founder. The rational for this is that a singular individual is not sufficient to handle this entire volume of work.Seed investments in the startups are also made in exchange for equity, starting as low as $20,000 in some instances.Finally, startup accelerators are usually given a rigid deadline, usually targeting upwards of three months. This time is associated with intensive mentoring and training, and as the name suggests, an accelerated evolution of the program.Startup accelerators are not even obligated to occupy a physical space, though it is common for them to. An accelerator or startup accelerator is defined as fixed-term programs that look to foster investment, connections, sales, and education to kindle growth in a project.Most commonly this effort constitutes a public pitch event, demos, and other forms of marketing. Startup accelerators are most commonly associated with Silicon Valley, a global hub for investing and fintech.Startup accelerators however are a global phenomenon that privately funded as an investment fund. This nature of investing helps extend equity style investing to a wide range of industries. Different Types of Startup AcceleratorsThere are multiple types of accelerators, which have evolved to reflect a new form of investing assistance to entrepreneurs.This includes hardware accelerators, AI accelerators, Biotech accelerators, and China cross-border accelerators.Of note, startup accelerators do differ from incubators, which are another component of the fintech lifecycle.In particular, the application process is open to anyone for startup accelerators, though very competitive. Furthermore, the focus for startup accelerators is on small teams not an individual founder. The rational for this is that a singular individual is not sufficient to handle this entire volume of work.Seed investments in the startups are also made in exchange for equity, starting as low as $20,000 in some instances.Finally, startup accelerators are usually given a rigid deadline, usually targeting upwards of three months. This time is associated with intensive mentoring and training, and as the name suggests, an accelerated evolution of the program.Startup accelerators are not even obligated to occupy a physical space, though it is common for them to. Read this Term NXTP Labs in order to test different approaches to assimilating external innovation into the bank’s customer offerings.

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The partnership aims to  Leverage  Leverage In financial trading, leverage is a loan supplied by a broker, which facilitates a trader in being able to control a relatively large amount of money with a significantly lesser initial investment. Leverage therefore allows traders to make a much greater return on investment compared to trading without any leverage. Traders seek to make a profit from movements in financial markets, such as stocks and currencies.Trading without any leverage would greatly diminish the potential rewards, so traders need to rely on leverage to make financial trading viable. Generally, the higher the fluctuation of an instrument, the larger the potential leverage offered by brokers. The market which offers the most leverage is undoubtedly the foreign exchange market, since currency fluctuations are relatively tiny. Of course, traders can select their account leverage, which usually varies from 1:50 to 1:200 on most forex brokers, although many brokers now offer up to 1:500 leverage, meaning for every 1 unit of currency deposited by the trader, they can control up to 500 units of that same currency. For example, if a trader was to deposit $1000 into a forex broker offering 500:1 leverage, it would mean the trader could control up to five hundred times their initial outlay, i.e. half a million dollars. Likewise, if an investor using a 1:200 leveraged account, was trading with $2000, it means they would be actually controlling $400,000, i.e. borrowing an additional $398,000 from the broker. Assuming this investment rises to $402,000 and the trader closes their trade, it means they would have achieved a 100% ROI by pocketing $2000. With leverage, the potential for profit is clear to see. Likewise, it also gives rise to the possibility of losing a much greater amount of their capital, because, had the value of the asset turned against the trader, they could have lost their entire investment.FX Regulators Clamp Down on Leverage Offered by BrokersBack in multiple regulators including the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) took material measures to protect retail clients trading rolling spot forex and contracts for difference (CFDs). The measures followed after years of discussion and the result of a study which showed the vast majority of retail brokerage clients were losing money. The regulations stipulated a leverage cap of 1:50 with newer clients being limited to 1:25 leverage. In financial trading, leverage is a loan supplied by a broker, which facilitates a trader in being able to control a relatively large amount of money with a significantly lesser initial investment. Leverage therefore allows traders to make a much greater return on investment compared to trading without any leverage. Traders seek to make a profit from movements in financial markets, such as stocks and currencies.Trading without any leverage would greatly diminish the potential rewards, so traders need to rely on leverage to make financial trading viable. Generally, the higher the fluctuation of an instrument, the larger the potential leverage offered by brokers. The market which offers the most leverage is undoubtedly the foreign exchange market, since currency fluctuations are relatively tiny. Of course, traders can select their account leverage, which usually varies from 1:50 to 1:200 on most forex brokers, although many brokers now offer up to 1:500 leverage, meaning for every 1 unit of currency deposited by the trader, they can control up to 500 units of that same currency. For example, if a trader was to deposit $1000 into a forex broker offering 500:1 leverage, it would mean the trader could control up to five hundred times their initial outlay, i.e. half a million dollars. Likewise, if an investor using a 1:200 leveraged account, was trading with $2000, it means they would be actually controlling $400,000, i.e. borrowing an additional $398,000 from the broker. Assuming this investment rises to $402,000 and the trader closes their trade, it means they would have achieved a 100% ROI by pocketing $2000. With leverage, the potential for profit is clear to see. Likewise, it also gives rise to the possibility of losing a much greater amount of their capital, because, had the value of the asset turned against the trader, they could have lost their entire investment.FX Regulators Clamp Down on Leverage Offered by BrokersBack in multiple regulators including the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) took material measures to protect retail clients trading rolling spot forex and contracts for difference (CFDs). The measures followed after years of discussion and the result of a study which showed the vast majority of retail brokerage clients were losing money. The regulations stipulated a leverage cap of 1:50 with newer clients being limited to 1:25 leverage. Read this Term innovations of NXTP’s start-ups to help drive the bank’s global digital banking transformation and move toward implementing a world class internet banking capability.

In addition to getting involved with the startup innovation ecosystem, the fintech firms will get access to co-working spaces that the bank is associated with, which spans over multiple geographies and strategic alliances with leading fintech and VC firms.

Scotiabank is undertaking a broad digital transformation strategy and hopes that this partnership with fintech firms will help identify service gaps they can fill with offerings developed at a low cost. It also builds a co-platform for young entrepreneurs to share their ideas and technology solutions.

NXTP Labs is a Latin American early stage fund which recently launched its first fintech accelerator program, with 35 startups selected from Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Uruguay. The firm’s accelerator offers significant institutional support and deep regional networks, particularly with limited startup resources and funding options in the region represent a main challenge for fintech entrepreneurs.

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