Press releases or official statements from TD Bank

TD Bank Pleads Guilty, Faces $3 Billion Penalty and U.S. Asset Cap Over Money Laundering

Oct 10, 2024, 02:57 PM

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD Bank) will pay about $3 billion in penalties and face restrictions on its U.S. growth as part of a settlement with U.S. regulators and prosecutors over charges that it failed to properly monitor money laundering by drug cartels. The bank is the first in history to plead guilty to committing money laundering, with two of its U.S. units entering guilty pleas. U.S. regulators have imposed an asset cap on TD Bank's U.S. retail operations, restricting new branches or services until compliance issues are resolved. The penalties stem from the bank's failure to monitor $18.3 trillion in customer activity, which allowed three money-laundering networks to transfer over $670 million through TD accounts. Employees reportedly joked about enabling criminal activity. The Department of Justice and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency cited long-term, systemic deficiencies in anti-money-laundering controls. TD Bank's shares fell on the news, slumping as much as 6% in premarket trading. The fine represents the largest penalty ever imposed by U.S. officials on a bank.