Article content

CALGARY – Bank of Nova Scotia previously offered to buy, and may still be interested in, Alberta’s provincially owned ATB Financial, finance minister Joe Ceci said Thursday.

Ceci, whose NDP government has called an election for next month, said in a news release aimed at United Conservative Party leader Jason Kenney that Scotiabank is interested in purchasing ATB Financial from the Alberta government.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Alberta finance minister reveals Scotiabank's interest in buying province's ATB Financial Back to video

Neither Scotiabank or ATB Financial have confirmed the existence of such a proposal.

In an interview, Ceci said that when he was appointed finance minister in Rachel Notley’s NDP government he turned down a “detailed proposal” submitted by Scotiabank to purchase ATB, which provides small business loans in the province and operates a network of banking branches, offering personal banking and business banking accounts.

“The previous government said this (proposal) is something that is there, do you want to follow up with it?” Ceci said.