Canada's Bank of Nova Scotia plans to require head office employees to work in the office four or more days per week starting in September, joining other major lenders in rolling back flexible working arrangements.

The Toronto-based bank will require teams with "real estate capacity" to increase their office attendance to "4+ days per week", according to an internal memo sent to Canadian banking employees in the Greater Toronto Area last week seen by Bloomberg. The memo was not sent to branch workers, who already work onsite full time.

"We have decided to increase the number of days that our teams work onsite, beginning in September 2025," the memo stated. "Spending more time together in the office enables more effective collaboration and problem-solving and ultimately provides more opportunities to develop one's career."

Office space constraints will affect some teams, with groups "constrained by real estate availability" expected to work three or more days per week initially, with the goal of eventually having all head office employees present four days or more weekly.

Scotiabank spokesperson Katie Raskina said the bank was already seeing positive results from increased office attendance. "We know having our teams working together in-person has many benefits — greater collaboration, higher engagement, more career-development opportunities and a stronger culture and sense of belonging — and we are already seeing the positive impact this is having across the bank as we focus on executing on our strategy," she said.

"We will continue to build on this impact as we bring our teams onsite more often, with the goal of reaching four days onsite across the bank over time," Raskina added.

The move follows similar decisions by other major financial institutions. Royal Bank of Canada is planning to require employees back in the office four days per week starting in the autumn, whilst JPMorgan Chase, the largest US bank, mandated five days per week in office earlier this year.

JPMorgan chief executive officer Jamie Dimon defended the bank's strict return-to-office policy last month, saying working from home "doesn't work for young people, management or innovation".

Scotiabank employed approximately 22,000 people in its Canadian banking business as of the end of April, though this includes branch employees and office workers across the country. The division accounts for more than 40 per cent of the bank's earnings.

Some employees will remain unaffected by the changes due to the nature of their work, with those on the global client-experience centre and Canadian banking collections teams seeing no change to their work-from-home arrangements. Client-facing employees in Scotiabank's capital markets business have already been working in the office at least four days per week.

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