A source "familiar with the bank's position" said that Bank of Nova Scotia has warned CONCACAF, which is "deeply enmeshed in the FIFA bribery scandal, that it will withhold funds from a major sponsorship deal" unless the confederation "cleans up its act," according to Rocha & Tilak of REUTERS. The source said, "The bank is deeply concerned. It does not want to be associated with scandals like this at all." The source added that a new management team at CONCACAF led by new President Alfredo Hawit Banegas has "brought in top-tier restructuring advisors and legal counsel" and was starting to take the "remediation measures" that the bank, which is widely known as Scotiabank, is demanding. Canada's No. 3 bank, which "also has major operations in Mexico and the Caribbean, inked a four-year deal with CONCACAF in December to be lead sponsor" on multiple tournaments through '18, including the regional club competition -- which was renamed the Scotiabank Champions League. A second source close to the matter said that the demands from Scotiabank "include a roadmap for exactly how the football body will resolve the alleged corruption and the mechanisms it will install to clean up and prevent
such problems in the future." The bank wants a "guarantee that CONCACAF is putting safety mechanisms in
place." Both sources said that Scotiabank's contract has provisions that "allow it to back out of the
sponsorship deal" if CONCACAF fails to "properly address the issue" (REUTERS, 6/26).
