Canada's TD Bank launches tech-focused banking unit

FILE PHOTO: The Toronto Dominion (TD) bank logo is seen on a building in Toronto, Ontario, Canada March 16, 2017. REUTERS/Chris Helgren/File Photo

(Reuters) - Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canada's second-largest bank, launched a new business focused on providing banking and financing services to technology companies in its domestic market.

The bank, which has been facing regulatory push back for alleged non-compliance with anti-money laundering regulations, intends to boost its presence in a highly saturated local market by expanding its reach to tech firms through the new unit, TD Innovations Partners.

Shez Samji, a tech banker hired from the Canadian arm of failed U.S. lender Silicon Valley Bank last year, will head the new unit.

"We're focused on enhancing and curating the banking experience for technology companies and their founders so they can spend more time creating and growing their business," Samji said in a statement.

The business will also work with TD Wealth, the bank's wealth management and financing planning arm, to provide private banking and wealth management services.

TD has been under scrutiny in recent months as it faces anti-money laundering probes. It had set aside $450 million in April to cover potential fines for one of three regulatory probes and expects more monetary penalties.

The lender was fined C$10 million ($7.27 million) by the Canadian financial intelligence unit for administrative violations earlier this year.

($1 = 1.3746 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru and Nivedita Balu in Toronto; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)