has obtaineda $125 million syndicated loan from a group of international banks, Economia y Negocios reported.

The loan,which will be structured in two parts with terms of two and three years, will beused to provide funds to meet the needs of Scotiabank's clients in its personaland commercial loan portfolio, the July 19 report said.

As therewas a strong interest from investors, the demand exceeded the amount originallysought by Scotiabank, and the loan amount obtained was higher than planned, thereport said, citing Mario Vásquez, treasury manager at Scotiabank Costa Rica.

,or Bladex, and Wells Fargo Securities LLC structured the loan, and Vásquez saidthe operation obtained favorable conditions, which will allow the bank to betterserve its clients.

Separately,Jean-Luc Rich, head of Scotiabank Costa Rica, reportedly said in an interview withcrhoy.com that the integration with Citibank's local personal and commercial bankingoperations should take between 12 and 24 months.

Toronto-basedBank of Nova Scotia closedin February the acquisition of CitigroupInc.'s consumer and commercial banking operations in Panama and CostaRica.

The dealwill increase Scotiabank's share of the credit cards market in Costa Rica to 15%,making it the second-largest bank in this category after BAC Credomatic, Rich saidin the July 14 report.

The executivesaid the acquisition of Citi's cards business is important for the bank and thatit is integrating its operations gradually to make sure quality of service is improved.

In addition,most of the loan portfolios Scotiabank has acquired from Citibank are denominatedin Costa Rican colons, which will help the bank to balance its own loan position,which is concentrated in dollars, Rich said.

Scotiabankhas a 10% share of the total loan portfolio in Costa Rica, the report noted.