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Nish Samantray isn’t your typical banker.

He graduated from the University of Toronto with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, and is a self-taught coder who in just two years founded and built a software startup and sold it back to his alma mater.

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After the acquisition, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do.

But after a chance meeting with a Bank of Nova Scotia executive, who pitched him on the storied institution’s digital transformation, his interest was piqued.

If you’re in technology and you want to work on cool things, banks like TD … can be a cool place to go

Now he’s one of more than 200 employees who have already set up shop at the bank’s new 70,000-square-foot “digital factory” in downtown Toronto, which was officially unveiled late last month.

The new office is a few blocks away from Scotiabank’s 184-year-old headquarters, but in terms of atmosphere it is a world apart.

With a bright, open-concept workspace, a fitness studio, even a bowling alley, the hub is aiming to emulate the perks that Silicon Valley companies offer to lure people like Samantray.