Noting its digital banking advancements, TD Bank Group reported net income 26% lower year over year for the fourth quarter, but up 20% overall for the fiscal year ended Oct. 31.

The $1.3 trillion TD Bank Group is focused on its long-term strategy and enterprise priorities, which include leveraging data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve its customer experience, as well as working to achieve “better, faster outcomes,” Bharat Masrani, group president and chief executive officer, said Thursday during the bank’s earnings call.

Total assets for TD Bank Group were $1.35 trillion, up from $1.34 trillion in 2020. The bank reported total non-interest expenses of $4.6 billion for Q4, a 4% YoY increase from $4.4 billion. The increase reflects “higher spend supporting business growth, including technology, marketing costs, higher employee-related expenses and variable compensation,” Kelvin Tran, chief financial officer of TD Bank Group, said on the call.

The bank reported net income of $2.9 billion for Q4, down 26% from net income of $4 billion YoY. Total revenue for Q4 was $8.5 billion, an 8% decline from total revenue of $9.2 billion YoY.

For the full year ended Oct. 31, TD reported net income of $11.1 billion and total revenue of $33.3 billion, an increase of 20% from net income of $9.3 billion and 2% decrease compared with total revenue of $34 billion for the previous year.

The Toronto-based bank was named “Best Consumer Digital Bank in North America” for 2021 by Global Finance magazine, Masrani noted on the call, and was also recognized in seven categories, including “Best Mobile Banking App,” “Best Information Security and Fraud Management” and “Best Open Banking APIs,” or application programming interfaces.

TD Bank Group is the No. 1 financial institution patent-filer in Canada with more than 300 patents granted, Masrani said, adding that the bank is “investing in the R&D to keep TD at the forefront of shaping the future of banking.”

That includes continuing to develop TD’s omni-channel strategy that blends human interactions with digital banking capabilities, such as with the October launch of its TD Automated Investing platform, Masrani said.

With a minimum balance of $5,000, the automated investment advisory tool allows users to complete an online questionnaire to determine their risk profile, and then recommends one of seven investment portfolios. The platform automatically builds, monitors and rebalances users’ investments, according to the bank.

TD announced in September that it has joined the Acoya Data Access Network, which allows fintechs and other data recipients to request API-based access to its U.S. customer data.