Bank of Nova Scotia

has carried out a series of layoffs in its U.S. and Asia Pacific investment-banking divisions, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The Canadian lender cut a number of jobs this month, including multiple managing directors, and made major cuts to the U.S. health-care team, said the people, who asked to not be identified discussing private information.

“We continue to remain focused on growing in the U.S. As part of our regular business planning process, we have made a limited number of personnel changes affecting a small group of employees,” Scotiabank spokesperson Katie Raskina said in an emailed statement Wednesday. The changes “reflect ongoing efforts to ensure that our teams are structured effectively to support our long-term business objectives.”

Scotiabank is also closing small investment-banking operations in

Hong Kong

and Australia, one of the people said.

“This strategic decision to align our business in Asia Pacific to our global strategy is not a reflection on the current market environment or our employees,” Raskina said. “We are being proactive and transparent with our employees and clients as we manage their needs through this transition.”

Under chief executive Scott Thomson, Scotiabank has prioritized capital deployment to its businesses in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico while re-evaluating international operations.

Travis Machen, a former Morgan Stanley banker, took over as group head of Scotiabank’s global banking and markets unit more than a year ago and has since recruited several high-level managers to his team. The bank hired former

UBS Group AG

executive Matt Eilers in April as global co-head of corporate and investment banking, based in New York. Eilers’ co-head is Dany Beauchemin, who is based in Toronto.

  • Scotiabank expects $61 million profit from KeyCorp
  • Scotiabank targets Canada’s affluent South Asians

Separately, Mark Mulroney, who had been vice chair in Scotiabank’s global banking and markets division, left the firm this week for rival

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce

. Mulroney, son of former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, is joining CIBC as global vice chair in the office of its chief executive officer in November.

With assistance from Linus Chua

Bloomberg.com