TD Bank Group acquires artificial intelligence innovator Layer 6

Predictive and personalized customer experiences at the centre of TD transformation strategy

TORONTO, Jan. 9, 2018 /CNW/ - TD Bank Group (TD) (TSX and NYSE: TD) today announced the acquisition of Layer 6 Inc. ("Layer 6"), a world-renowned artificial intelligence (AI) company based in Toronto, Ontario.

Layer 6 has emerged as a global thought-leader and pioneer in the delivery of responsive, personalized and insight-driven experiences for the financial services industry.  Layer 6 founders Tomi Poutanen and Jordan Jacobs are also co-founders of the Vector Institute, a world leader in AI research and education that TD also supports.

Quotes

Bharat Masrani, Group President and CEO, TD Bank Group:

"Anticipating and meeting customer needs are at the heart of our promise, and we are excited to further accelerate our innovation agenda to deliver well into the future. As we deploy new solutions, we will extend our deep relationship with customers across all of our platforms and offer personalized, connected and legendary experiences for our customers in the digital age."

Michael Rhodes, Group Head, Innovation, Technology and Shared Services, TD Bank Group:

"Layer 6 adds new capabilities to TD's growing base of innovation talent and know-how.  Artificial Intelligence has the potential to power a new generation of data-driven applications from personalized and real-time advice to predictive analytics that will shape the future of banking for millions of individuals."

Jordan Jacobs, Co-CEO & Co-Founder, Layer 6:

"TD is committed to leading the market with new innovation and superior customer experiences.  Layer 6 was founded to help organizations harness the power of artificial intelligence, and we are excited to join TD and help them build for the future."

Today's announcement builds on an impressive track record of accomplishment as TD harnesses the potential of artificial intelligence:

• TD is collaborating with the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, which is developing the next generation of AI technologies.
• TD recently announced an agreement with leading conversational AI provider, Kasisto to integrate the company's KAI Banking platform into TD's top-ranked mobile app. 
• TD recently collaborated with Amazon to introduce new voice banking "skills" on Alexa.
• TD was the first financial institution in Canada to offer a chatbot on Twitter to empower our customers to get instant help on select general inquiries.
• Committed to the future development of data and analytics talent – a critical and foundational need for successful AI solutions – TD is funding new initiatives at both Western University in London, Ontario and the University of Toronto'sRotman School of Management.

The acquisition of Layer 6 is not expected to have a meaningful impact on TD's Common Equity Tier 1 Capital ratio.

About TD Bank Group
The Toronto-Dominion Bank and its subsidiaries are collectively known as TD Bank Group ("TD" or the "Bank"). TD is the sixth largest bank in North America by branches and serves more than 25 million customers in three key businesses operating in a number of locations in financial centres around the globe: Canadian Retail, including TD Canada Trust, TD Auto Finance Canada, TD Wealth (Canada), TD Direct Investing, and TD Insurance; U.S. Retail, including TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank®, TD Auto Finance U.S., TD Wealth (U.S.), and an investment in TD Ameritrade; and Wholesale Banking, including TD Securities. TD also ranks among the world's leading online financial services firms, with approximately 11.5 million active online and mobile customers. TD had CDN$1.3 trillion in assets on October 31, 2017. The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades under the symbol "TD" on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges.

About Layer 6 Inc.
Layer 6 enables a financial institution to deploy the most advanced Machine Learning solutions through a world leading Artificial Intelligence prediction engine for enterprise data. The platform helps anticipate how to provide each customer with a better, more personalized experience in real-time. Layer 6 was founded by Jordan Jacobs, Tomi Poutanen and Maks Volkovs in Toronto, and launched publicly in late 2016. The company has been recognized for its leading accuracy in real-time personalization and prediction through engagements with global companies and as winner of the 2017 RecSys Challenge by a wide margin over top international AI labs. The Layer 6 data science team led by Maks Volkovs does ground-breaking machine learning research which is regularly published and presented at top AI conferences, including NIPS, ICML and RecSys. Jordan Jacobs and Tomi Poutanen are also co-founders of the Vector Institute, a concept they initiated with Geoffrey Hinton and Richard Zemel. Vector launched in 2017 with $230 Million of backing from over 30 companies including TD, and the governments of Canada and Ontario.

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Material economic assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements contained in this document are set out in the 2017 MD&A under the headings "Economic Summary and Outlook", for the Canadian Retail, U.S. Retail, and Wholesale Banking segments, "Business Outlook and Focus for 2018", and for the Corporate segment, "Focus for 2018", each as may be updated in subsequently filed quarterly reports to shareholders.

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SOURCE TD Bank Group