TORONTO — Canada’s financial crime watchdog has fined Toronto-Dominion Bank $9.2 million for non-compliance with anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regulations. This is because the bank is also under compliance investigation in the United States.
The latest fine by the Financial Transactions and Reporting Analysis Center of Canada (Fintrac) follows the earlier fine of $7.5 million against RBC and $1.3 million against CIBC. Both were announced in December. These penalties also applied to violations related to money laundering and terrorist financing.
According to the agency, the penalties against TD are for five violations during the review period from March 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023.
Failures include failure to submit suspicious transaction reports when requested, including negative media related to the customer, and risk of money laundering or financing of terrorist activities. These include failure to evaluate and document the failure, and failure of the bank to take appropriate special measures to obtain high-value financing. danger.
During its review, Fintrac identified 96 customers who were not participating in the bank’s high-risk customer program. These included politically exposed foreigners with whom banks were able to do business for more than two years without obtaining the necessary details from their customers.
TD is working on improvements, spokeswoman Lisa Hodgins said in a statement.
“As part of our regular review of Canadian financial institutions, FINTRAC has identified five specific administrative findings that require our attention. Improvements have been made and more are on the way. is.”
The fine against TD was imposed just days after the bank revealed it had received an initial US$450 million in connection with an ongoing US regulatory investigation into its anti-money laundering compliance program.
The bank announced Tuesday that discussions are ongoing with three U.S. regulators and the Department of Justice, and additional fines are expected.
TD said its programs were “inadequate to effectively monitor, detect, report, and respond to suspicious activity” and that work was underway to fix the deficiencies.
National Bank analyst Gabriel Deschenes said the total fine could be higher than the $500 million to $1 billion market expected, but the bank also faces the risk that regulators could issue consent orders that would mean further restrictions. He said he is doing so.
At the bank’s general meeting last month, TD CEO Bharat Masrani asked shareholders to be patient as the bank works to eliminate regulatory overload on its shares.
“No doubt shareholders have some concerns about the issues in the US, and so do we, and we believe there will be pressure until there is more clarity.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 2, 2024.
Companies featured in this article: (TSX:TD)
Ian Bikis, Canadian Press
