Sabrina N. Gordon, Business Reporter

Monique Todd, senior marketing manager, Scotia Wealth Division.

Investment bank Dehring Bunting and Golding (DB&G) and its sister company Scotiabank Jamaica, are marrying services, defined as a 'product wrap' for better customer service.

"The product wrap was deve-loped as we felt it was important to show in a tangible way the benefits that clients can now expect from DB&G as a part of the Scotiabank Group," said Monique Todd, senior marketing manager, Scotia Wealth Division.

The product has three components, DB&G's cash-management account, Scotiabank's chequing or savings account and Scotiabank's on-line banking.

Once a customer opens a DB&G cash-management account and a Scotiabank account they can access their accounts on-line or through Telescotia, allowing them to transfer funds between accounts, make bill payments, and access ABMs and other electronic services.

Additionally, there is the ease of opening accounts for clients.

"Once a client has provided all the necessary opening documents to DB&G they will not have to provide original account-opening-required documents to Scotiabank Jamaica," said Todd.

DB&G customers can also now access their accounts and complete transactions at the over 12 Scotiabank Jamaica locations islandwide.

The wrap deepens the integration of Scotiabank Group as parent company to DB&G.

Prior to this, DB&G had taken control of the wealth-investment arm of Scotiabank, SJIM, via a share swap - signalling the start of the integration.

In relation to the planned integration of the companies' information systems, DB&G has narrowed its selection to a short list of vendors from which they will be making a selection.

Implementation of the new IT platform is set for 2009 and is expected to be phased over 12 to 24 months.

Among the company's strategies going forward are the building out of their sales force, a focus on building their loan portfolio, and expanding their unit trust and mutual-fund offerings.