James Wagner
A Bloomberg article on Monday provided details of specific cases in which Toronto-Dominion Bank (New York Stock Exchange:TD) employees allegedly circumvented the company's compliance procedures to funnel cash out of the country. The Toronto-based bank is being investigated by US federal authorities for weaknesses in its anti-money laundering controls.
A now-former retail banker at TD's Hollywood, Florida branch allegedly falsified documents to open dozens of accounts and provided services to help transfer cash across borders, Bloomberg reported, citing US prosecutors. In another case, a former TD branch employee in New York admitted to circumventing the bank's compliance procedures to defraud a customer.
Toronto-Dominion was not identified by name in those cases. However, a TD spokesperson said the company fired the employee named in the Florida plan. The spokesperson told Bloomberg that the company has made substantial progress in increasing its compliance.
A case in New Jersey involved a bank employee who allegedly accepted bribes to open debit cards and online accounts using the names of shell companies registered in Florida. The employee concealed the true owners of the accounts in documents filed with the bank, Bloomberg saying.
Last month, Dow Jones reported that TD (TD) fired more than a dozen people for their conduct related to the bank's failures in its anti-money laundering controls.
During the company's second-quarter earnings call, CEO Bharat Masrani said the company has invested C$500 million (US$365 million) in AML remediation.
“We have made tangible progress, but there is still work to be done,” he said. Additionally, TD (TD) is cooperating with US regulators and the Department of Justice and seeks to resolve the investigations “as soon as possible.”
The investigation into TD's anti-money laundering controls led to the collapse of the bank's deal to acquire First Horizon (FHN), as the Canadian bank, which already has more branches in the U.S. than in Canada, sought to increase its presence beyond the east coast of the United States.
