Acknowledges and takes full responsibility for
U.S. AML program failures
Significant effort underway to remediate U.S.
AML program to meet obligations
Working in close cooperation with regulators
and authorities; supporting efforts to bring money launderers to
justice
Strong U.S. business will drive AML program
remediation, strengthen operations, and serve customers and
communities
TORONTO and NEW
YORK, Oct. 10, 2024 /CNW/ - TD Bank Group ("TD"
or the "Bank") (TSX: TD) (NYSE: TD) today announced that, following
several years of active cooperation and engagement with authorities
and regulators, it has reached a resolution of previously disclosed
investigations related to its U.S. Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and
Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance programs.
The Bank and certain of its U.S. subsidiaries have consented to
orders with the Office of the Comptroller of the
Currency (OCC), the Federal Reserve Board, and the Financial
Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and entered into plea
agreements with the Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Money
Laundering and Asset Recovery Section and the United States Attorney's Office for the
District of New Jersey.
Details of the resolution include:
- A total payment of approximately US$3.09
billion, largely covered by previous provisions of
US$3.05 billion.
- Requirements to remediate the Bank's U.S. AML program, broadly
aligned to its existing remediation program, which is progressing
steadily under the direction of its new U.S. AML leadership
team.
- Requirement to prioritize the funding and staffing of the
remediation, which is already in place.
- Formal oversight of the AML remediation through a
Monitorship.
- The total assets of TD's two U.S. banking subsidiaries (TD
Bank, NA and TD Bank USA, NA) ("US
Bank") cannot exceed US$434 billion
(total assets as at September 30,
2024); the limitation does not apply to TD Securities, or
any of the Bank's Canadian or other global businesses.
- The U.S. Bank is subject to more stringent approval processes
for new bank products, services, markets, and stores to ensure the
AML risk of new initiatives is appropriately considered and
mitigated.
Plans are in place to address the requirements and limitations
contained in the consent orders, including adjustments to the
Bank's U.S. balance sheet. These actions will provide the
asset capacity required to serve and support U.S. customers'
financial needs without interruption, now and into the future.
TD has the financial strength, stability, and operational
flexibility to deliver the required U.S. AML remediation program,
continue to serve the financial needs of its more than ten million
U.S. customers, and invest to strengthen the business.
"We have taken full responsibility for the failures of our U.S.
AML program and are making the investments, changes and
enhancements required to deliver on our commitments. This is a
difficult chapter in our Bank's history. These failures took place
on my watch as CEO and I apologize to all our stakeholders," said
Bharat Masrani, Group President and Chief Executive Officer, TD
Bank Group. "I want to thank our colleagues, who continue to
demonstrate their dedication and who play an important role in
preventing criminal activity."
The Bank has actively cooperated in good faith with regulators
and the Department of Justice throughout their investigations and
continues to assist in the prosecution of the criminals who
leveraged its AML program weaknesses, including five of its
store-level employees.
"Money laundering is a serious global threat, and our U.S.
operation did not maintain an adequate AML program to thwart
criminal activity. The Board has and continues to take action to
address these failures and hold those responsible accountable. We
have appointed new leaders across our U.S. operations, overhauled
our U.S. AML team, and prioritized investments to drive the
required changes," said Alan
MacGibbon, Chair of the Board, TD Bank Group. "Enhancing our
program and meeting our obligations today and into the future is
the number one priority of the Board and management."
U.S. AML PROGRAM REMEDIATION
"Criminals were able to exploit our systems and our U.S. AML
program did not deliver. We continue to work with purpose,
focus and urgency to remediate our AML program and earn back the
trust of our regulators and other stakeholders. We are committed to
working productively with the Monitorship to build a sustainable
AML program and meet our obligations under the terms of the
resolution," said Leo Salom,
President and Chief Executive Officer, TD Bank, America's Most
Convenient Bank. "Our U.S. operation is strong, and we will
continue to serve the needs of the 10 million households and
businesses in the U.S. who rely on us for their financial
goals."
A significant, multi-year effort is required to implement a
strong, effective, and sustainable AML program. Work is underway,
and progress to date includes:
- Overhauled AML program leadership and talent, including
the appointment of new U.S. Head of Financial Crime Risk Management
and BSA/AML Officer, with proven leadership and experience. Added
40 new leaders and over 700 new AML specialists with experience and
qualifications in money laundering prevention, financial crimes,
and AML remediation.
- Strengthened oversight structure and accountability
across all three lines of defense, starting at the front lines and
carrying through to risk management and audit teams. Established a
dedicated committee at the U.S. boards for AML / BSA
oversight.
- Introduced new standards, processes, and stronger
bank-wide training to better prevent, detect and measure financial
crime risk, and improve escalation and decision-making.
- Deployed new data-driven technology solutions with
stronger detection and data management, analytics, and modelling
capabilities; additional work underway to build long-term
sustainable risk mitigation.
The Bank is committed to the critical work effort ahead and has
mobilized the required resources to deliver its long-term U.S. AML
remediation program.
More information about the resolution and TD's remediation
program is available on the Investor Relations page of TD's
website.
Conference call
TD Bank Group will host a conference call on October 10, 2024 at 2:30
PM ET. The call will be audio webcast live through TD's
website. Call details are as follows:
Audio
webcast: https://td.streamme.ca/tdconferencecall101024
Toll-free dial-in number (Canada/US)
1-800-806-5484
Local dial-in
number: 416-340-2217
Participant passcode:
6048921#
The audio webcast will be archived at
www.td.com/investor. A replay of the teleconference will be
available on October 10, 2024, until
11:59 p.m. ET on November 10, 2024 by calling 905-694-9451 or
1-800-408-3053 (toll free) and the passcode is 9939131#
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
assets and serves over 27.5 million customers in four key
businesses operating in a number of locations in financial centres
around the globe: Canadian Personal and Commercial Banking,
including TD Canada Trust and TD Auto Finance Canada; U.S. Retail,
including TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank®, TD Auto Finance
U.S., TD Wealth (U.S.), and an investment in The Charles Schwab
Corporation; Wealth Management and Insurance, including TD Wealth
(Canada), TD Direct Investing, and
TD Insurance; and Wholesale Banking, including TD Securities and TD
Cowen. TD also ranks among the world's leading online financial
services firms, with more than 17 million active online and mobile
customers. TD had $1.97 trillion in
assets on July 31, 2024. The
Toronto-Dominion Bank trades under the symbol "TD" on the
Toronto and New York Stock
Exchanges.
Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information
From time to time, the Bank (as defined in this document) makes
written and/or oral forward-looking statements, including in this
document, in other filings with Canadian regulators or the United States (U.S.) Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC), and in other communications. In
addition, representatives of the Bank may make forward-looking
statements orally to analysts, investors, the media, and others.
All such statements are made pursuant to the "safe harbour"
provisions of, and are intended to be forward-looking statements
under, applicable Canadian and U.S. securities legislation,
including the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to,
statements made in this document, the Management's Discussion and
Analysis ("2023 MD&A") in the Bank's 2023 Annual Report under
the heading "Economic Summary and Outlook", under the headings "Key
Priorities for 2024" and "Operating Environment and Outlook" for
the Canadian Personal and Commercial Banking, U.S. Retail, Wealth
Management and Insurance, and Wholesale Banking segments, and under
the heading "2023 Accomplishments and Focus for 2024" for the
Corporate segment, and in other statements regarding the Bank's
objectives and priorities for 2024 and beyond and strategies to
achieve them, the regulatory environment in which the Bank
operates, and the Bank's anticipated financial performance.
Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as
"anticipate", "believe", "could", "estimate", "expect", "forecast",
"goal", "intend", "may", "outlook", "plan", "possible",
"potential", "predict", "project", "should", "target", "will", and
"would" and similar expressions or variations thereof, or the
negative thereof, but these terms are not the exclusive means of
identifying such statements.
By their very nature, these forward-looking statements require
the Bank to make assumptions and are subject to inherent risks and
uncertainties, general and specific. Especially in light of the
uncertainty related to the physical, financial, economic,
political, and regulatory environments, such risks and
uncertainties – many of which are beyond the Bank's control and the
effects of which can be difficult to predict – may cause actual
results to differ materially from the expectations expressed in the
forward-looking statements. Risk factors that could cause,
individually or in the aggregate, such differences include:
strategic, credit, market (including equity, commodity, foreign
exchange, interest rate, and credit spreads), operational
(including technology, cyber security, and infrastructure), model,
insurance, liquidity, capital adequacy, legal, regulatory
compliance and conduct, reputational, environmental and social, and
other risks. Examples of such risk factors include general business
and economic conditions in the regions in which the Bank operates;
geopolitical risk; inflation, rising rates and recession;
regulatory oversight and compliance risk; risks associated with the
Bank's ability to satisfy the consent orders relating to its global
resolution of the civil and criminal investigations into the Bank's
BSA/AML program; the impact of the resolution of the Bank's civil
and criminal investigations into the Bank's BSA/AML program on the
Bank's businesses, operations and financial condition; the ability
of the Bank to execute on long-term strategies, shorter-term key
strategic priorities, including the successful completion of
acquisitions and dispositions and integration of acquisitions, the
ability of the Bank to achieve its financial or strategic
objectives with respect to its investments, business retention
plans, and other strategic plans; technology and cyber security
risk (including cyber-attacks, data security breaches or technology
failures) on the Bank's technologies, systems and networks, those
of the Bank's customers (including their own devices), and third
parties providing services to the Bank; model risk;
fraud activity; insider risk; the failure of third
parties to comply with their obligations to the Bank or its
affiliates, including relating to the care and control of
information, and other risks arising from the Bank's use of third
parties; the impact of new and changes to, or application of,
current laws, rules and regulations, including without limitation
tax laws, capital guidelines and liquidity regulatory guidance;
increased competition from incumbents and new entrants (including
Fintechs and big technology competitors); shifts in consumer
attitudes and disruptive technology; environmental and social risk
(including climate change); exposure related to significant
litigation and regulatory matters; ability of the Bank to attract,
develop, and retain key talent; changes to the Bank's credit
ratings; changes in foreign exchange rates, interest rates, credit
spreads and equity prices; the interconnectivity of Financial
Institutions including existing and potential international debt
crises; increased funding costs and market volatility due to market
illiquidity and competition for funding; Interbank Offered Rate
(IBOR) transition risk; critical accounting estimates and changes
to accounting standards, policies, and methods used by the Bank;
the economic, financial, and other impacts of pandemics; and the
occurrence of natural and unnatural catastrophic events and claims
resulting from such events. The Bank cautions that the preceding
list is not exhaustive of all possible risk factors and other
factors could also adversely affect the Bank's results. For more
detailed information, please refer to the "Risk Factors and
Management" section of the 2023 MD&A, as may be updated in
subsequently filed quarterly reports to shareholders and news
releases (as applicable) related to any events or transactions
discussed under the heading "Significant Events" or "Significant
and Subsequent Events" in the relevant MD&A, which applicable
releases may be found on www.td.com, and to the Material Change
Report dated October 10, 2024, which
is available on SEDAR+. All such factors, as well as other
uncertainties and potential events, and the inherent uncertainty of
forward-looking statements, should be considered carefully when
making decisions with respect to the Bank. The Bank cautions
readers not to place undue reliance on the Bank's forward-looking
statements.
Material economic assumptions underlying the forward-looking
statements contained in this document are set out in the 2023
MD&A under the heading "Economic Summary and Outlook", under
the headings "Key Priorities for 2024" and "Operating Environment
and Outlook" for the Canadian Personal and Commercial Banking, U.S.
Retail, Wealth Management and Insurance, and Wholesale Banking
segments, and under the heading "2023 Accomplishments and Focus for
2024" for the Corporate segment, each as may be updated in
subsequently filed quarterly reports to shareholders.
Any forward-looking statements contained in this document
represent the views of management only as of the date hereof and
are presented for the purpose of assisting the Bank's shareholders
and analysts in understanding the Bank's financial position,
objectives and priorities and anticipated financial performance as
at and for the periods ended on the dates presented, and may not be
appropriate for other purposes. The Bank does not undertake to
update any forward-looking statements, whether written or oral,
that may be made from time to time by or on its behalf, except as
required under applicable law.
SOURCE TD Bank Group