TD Bank has been slapped with a staggering $3bn fine after admitting to breaches of US anti-money laundering regulations.
According to Finextra, this penalty marks the most substantial fine ever imposed for failures related to the Bank Secrecy Act. The US Justice Department revealed that between 2014 and 2023, TD Bank exhibited “long-term, pervasive, and systemic deficiencies” in its US operations’ anti-money laundering (AML) protocols, failing to implement necessary reforms despite repeated warnings.
For nearly a decade, both regulators and the bank’s internal audit repeatedly flagged major concerns with TD Bank’s transaction monitoring system. Despite these warnings, the bank’s efforts to monitor suspicious transactions remained largely unchanged, excluding significant payment types such as domestic ACH transactions, most cheque activities, and even failing to properly integrate the monitoring of its newly introduced Zelle P2P service. This oversight resulted in an alarming 92% of the bank’s transaction volume, amounting to $18.3 trillion, not being adequately monitored from January 2018 to April 2024.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) also disclosed that during this period, TD Bank became a conduit for three money laundering syndicates that managed to transfer over $670m through the bank’s accounts between 2019 and 2023. One of these networks processed transactions exceeding $470m through large cash deposits into dummy accounts from January 2018 to February 2021. To facilitate these illicit activities, bank employees were even offered gift cards totaling more than $57,000.
The penalties imposed include a $1.8bn payment to the US Justice Department, with additional fines levied by banking regulators and the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. As part of its settlement, TD Bank has also agreed to engage an independent compliance monitor for the next three years to oversee its AML practices.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland commented on the case, saying, “By making its services convenient for criminals, TD Bank became one.” He further noted that TD Bank is now the largest bank in US history to plead guilty to Bank Secrecy Act program failures and the first in the country to admit to conspiracy to commit money laundering.
TD Bank CEO Bharat Masrani responded to the fines, stating, “We have taken full responsibility for the failures of our US programme and are making the investments, changes and enhancements required to deliver on our commitments.” He added, “These failures took place on my watch as CEO and I apologise to all our stakeholders.”
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