Scotiabank has warned CONCACAF that it will "withhold funds from a major sponsorship deal unless the confederation cleans up its act,” according to a source cited by Rocha & Tilak of REUTERS. CONCACAF is deeply involved in the ongoing FIFA bribery scandal, as the source said, “The bank is deeply concerned. It does not want to be associated with scandals like this at all.” The source said 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 ... is demanding.” Rocha & Tilak noted the bank “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.” It also “became the official bank to CONCACAF.” Another source said that the “demands from Scotiabank include a roadmap for exactly how the soccer body will resolve the alleged corruption and the mechanisms it will install to clean up and prevent such problems in the future.” Both sources said that Scotiabank’s contract has “provisions that allow it to back out of the sponsorship deal, if CONCACAF fail to properly address the issue” (REUTERS, 6/26).
