David Dodge has been nominated by Bank of Nova Scotia, Canada's third-largest bank, to its Board of Directors.

The bank made the revelation in its annual proxy circular yesterday. Mr. Dodge, 66, is at present, a Senior Adviser at the law firm, Bennett Jones LLP and Chancellor of Queen's University. He was Governor of Canada's Central Bank from 2001 to 2008, and previously held a number of posts in Ottawa, including Deputy Minister of Finance in the 1990s and Deputy Minister of Health.

Meanwhile, Bank of Nova Scotia said that it agreed to buy the Colombian unit of Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS) for an undisclosed amount to expand its hold in South America.

The possession is Scotiabank's first in Colombia, and comes as part of the fallout of the global credit crisis that nearly crippled RBS, which ended up getting bailed out by U. K. taxpayers.

"Scotiabank has ambitious plans for the Colombian market and that makes this an exciting opportunity for our staff and our customers", said Russell Gibson, RBS Latin America's Divisional Head.

Scotiabank is already a big name in Latin America, with operations in Mexico, Belize, El Salvador, Panama, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Peru, Venezuela, Brazil and Chile.