Toronto-Dominion Bank says the strong performance at its retail banking operations drove says first-quarter profit higher.

TD said today before markets opened that its net income climbed to $630 million, or 95¢ a share, from $582 million, or 88¢ a share, in the year-before period.

The bank also said it was raising its quarterly dividend to 40¢ a share from 36¢ a share.

Stripping out certain intangible items, the bank said diluted earnings were $1.08 per share, compared with $1.15 per share in the same period the year before.

The bank said its retail operations at TD Canada Trust generated record high earnings during the quarter.

However, wholesale banking and wealth-management divisions both reported lower earnings.

Loan-loss provisions were $10 million in the quarter, compared with a reversal of credit losses of $104 million in the year-before period.

Return on equity was 19.5%, down slightly from 19.8% in the year-earlier quarter.

Revenue rose 2% to $2.8 billion.

Separately, TD announced it may buy back up to 14 million of its common shares in a normal course issuer bid, representing about 2.1% of shares outstanding as of Feb. 18.