UPDATE 1-Scotiabank profit rises 31 pct on wholesale banking

* Profit edges ahead of estimates

* Global markets income drives growth

* Canada's No. 3 bank final Canadian bank to report

Dec 7 (Reuters) - Bank of Nova Scotia's quarterly profit rose 31 percent, just beating estimates, as wholesale banking income surged, while international banking was boosted by an acquisition.

The bank, known as Scotiabank, said on Friday it earned C$1.52 billion ($1.54 billion) or C$1.18 a share, in the fiscal fourth quarter ended Oct. 31. That compared with a year-before profit of C$1.16 billion, or 97 Canadian cents a share.

Excluding a charge for amortization of intangibles, the bank earned C$1.21, coming in slightly ahead of analysts' expectations of a profit of C$1.18 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Profit at the bank's global banking and markets division, its wholesale banking unit formerly known as Scotia Capital, jumped 63 percent to C$396 million from a relatively weak result in the fourth quarter of 2011.

The international banking segment posted a 22 percent gain in profit to C$453 million, helped by the acquisition in January of Colombia's Banco Colpatria.

Toronto-based Scotiabank, Canada's third-largest lender, boasts operations in more than 50 countries, with the heaviest weighting in Latin America and a growing presence in Asia.

Profit from the Canadian banking segment rose 15 percent to C$481 million, driven by an 8 percent rise in residential mortgages.

Scotiabank is the last Canadian bank to report fourth-quarter results.