There is no assurance that SCUSA or any other party will be willing to purchase your Notes at any price and, in this regard, SCUSA is not obligated to make a market in the Notes. See “— The Notes lack liquidity” herein.
The price at which the Notes may be sold prior to maturity will depend on a number of factors and may be substantially less than the amount for which they were originally purchased
The price at which the Notes may be sold prior to maturity will depend on a number of factors. Some of these factors include, but are not limited to: (i) actual or anticipated changes in the value of the Basket Components over the full term of the Notes, (ii) volatility of the Basket Components and the market’s perception of future volatility of the Basket Components, (iii) the correlation among the Basket Components, (iv) changes in interest rates generally, (v) any actual or anticipated changes in our credit ratings or credit spreads and (vi) the time remaining to maturity. In particular, because the provisions of the Notes relating to the automatic call feature and the Payment at Maturity behave like options, the value of the Notes will vary in ways which are non-linear and may not be intuitive.
Depending on the actual or anticipated value of the Basket Components and other relevant factors, the market value of the Notes may decrease and you may receive substantially less than 100% of the issue price if you sell your Notes prior to maturity.
See “Additional Risk Factors Specific to the Notes — Risks Relating to Liquidity — The Market Value of Your Notes May Be Influenced by Many Unpredictable Factors” in the accompanying product supplement.
The Notes lack liquidity
The Notes will not be listed on any securities exchange or automated quotation system. Therefore, there may be little or no secondary market for the Notes. SCUSA and any other affiliates of the Bank may, but are not obligated to, make a market in the Notes. Even if there is a secondary market, it may not provide enough liquidity to allow you to trade or sell the Notes easily. Because we do not expect that other broker-dealers will participate significantly in the secondary market for the Notes, the price at which you may be able to trade your Notes is likely to depend on the price, if any, at which SCUSA is willing to purchase the Notes from you. If at any time SCUSA does not make a market in the Notes, it is likely that there would be no secondary market for the Notes. Accordingly, you should be willing to hold your Notes to maturity.
Risks Relating to Hedging Activities and Conflicts of Interest
There are potential conflicts of interest between you and the Calculation Agent
Scotia Capital Inc., the Calculation Agent, is one of our affiliates. In performing its duties, the economic interests of the Calculation Agent are potentially adverse to your interests as an investor in the Notes. The Calculation Agent is under no obligation to consider your interests as a holder of the Notes in taking any actions that might affect the value of the Basket Components or the value of, and return on, the Notes.
Hedging activities by the Bank and SCUSA may negatively impact investors in the Notes and cause our respective interests and those of our clients and counterparties to be contrary to those of investors in the Notes
The Bank, SCUSA or one or more of our other affiliates has hedged or expects to hedge the obligations under the Notes by purchasing shares of the Basket Components, futures and/or other instruments linked to the Basket Components. The Bank, SCUSA or one or more of our other affiliates also expects to adjust the hedge by, among other things, purchasing or selling any of the foregoing, and perhaps other instruments linked to the Basket Components, at any time and from time to time, and to unwind the hedge by selling any of the foregoing on or before the Final Valuation Date.
The Bank, SCUSA or one or more of our other affiliates may also enter into, adjust and unwind hedging transactions relating to other basket- or index-linked notes whose returns are linked to changes in the price of the Basket Components. Any of these hedging activities may adversely affect the value of the Basket Components and, therefore, the market value of, and return on, the Notes.
The Bank, the Agents and/or our or their affiliates regularly provide services to, or otherwise have business relationships with, a broad client base, which may include the Basket Component Issuers and the market activities by the Bank, the Agents or our respective affiliates for our own account or for our clients could negatively impact investors in the Notes
We, the Agents and/or our or their respective affiliates regularly provide a wide range of financial services, including financial advisory, investment advisory and transactional services to a substantial and diversified client base. As such, we each may act as an investor, investment banker, research provider, investment manager, investment advisor, market maker, trader, prime broker or lender. In those and other capacities, we, the Agents and/or our other affiliates purchase, sell or hold a broad array of investments, actively trade securities (including the Notes or other securities that we have issued), the Basket Components, derivatives, loans, credit default swaps, indices, baskets and other financial instruments and products for our own accounts or for the accounts of our customers, and we will have other direct or indirect interests, in those securities and in other markets that may not be consistent with your interests and may adversely affect the value of the Basket Components and/or the value of the Notes. You should assume that we or they will, at present or in the future, provide such services or otherwise engage in