May 08, 2009

The Canadian parent of TD Bank recently pumped nearly $1 billion into the New England bank, apparently a measure of protection against an investment portfolio riddled with risky mortgage-backed securities.TD Bank, one of the four big commercial banks operating in Boston, revealed a capital infusion of $999 million in a quarterly filing with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The filing covers operations with $107 billion in assets.The infusion helped boost TD Bank’s equity capital by 7 percent to $19.04 billion, compared with $17.8 billion at the end of 2008, according to the FDIC filing.

Part of Toronto-based TD Bank Financial Group, TD Bank declined to comment for this story. A spokesman said executives wouldn’t discuss the FDIC filing ahead of the parent company’s financial results due out May 28.TD Bank’s FDIC filing showed that it had $1.16 billion in unrealized losses in a $26.3 billion available-for-sale securities portfolio at the end of March. The unrealized losses represent a markdown in the value of assets in the portfolio. Actual losses may not occur, but if the bank judges the reduced value other than temporary, it could take a hit to its capital levels.