TD Bank hit with $9.2M penalty after failing to report suspicious transactions

Canada’s financial intelligence agency says it has levied a $9.2-million penalty against The Toronto-Dominion Bank for non-compliance with money laundering and terrorist financing measures as the bank also faces compliance investigations in the U.S.

The penalty by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada follows on a $7.5-million fine against RBC and a $1.3-million fine against CIBC announced in December.

The agency, known as Fintrac, says it imposed the penalty against TD for a range of failures including not submitting suspicious transaction reports when there was reasonable grounds to require it to do so, not assessing and documenting money laundering/terrorist activity financing risks and for the bank not taking prescribed special measures for high risk.

The penalty against TD comes only days after the bank disclosed it had taken an initial provision of US$450 million in connection to the ongoing U.S. regulatory inquiry into its anti-money laundering compliance program.

The bank said its discussions with three U.S. regulators and the Department of Justice are ongoing, and it anticipates additional monetary penalties.

TD said its program was "insufficient to effectively monitor, detect, report, and respond to suspicious activity" and work is underway to remedy the deficiencies.