Money-laundering probes show need for better accountability: TD chief
Toronto-Dominion Bank employees need to take more accountability and act with more urgency on risks, chief executive Bharat Masrani said, after the Canadian bank was rocked by sweeping money-laundering investigations in its U.S. business.
“The big lesson is you can’t take anything for granted,” Masrani said Wednesday at a financial-industry conference hosted by Bank of Nova Scotia in Toronto.
Toronto-Dominion faces allegations that it failed to catch money laundering and other financial crimes at multiple U.S. branches across several states. It’s under investigation by theDepartment of Justice as well as financial regulators, and said last month it hopes to reach a “global resolution” of the matter by the end of this year.
After “bad actors were able to exploit the bank,” Masrani said Toronto-Dominion needed to “deepen accountabilities for such types of risk” throughout its front-line staff as well as among those working in control and audit functions. The goal is to “make sure folks understand this risk right through the organization and act with urgency,” he said.
“It’s easy in a bank of our size to sometimes not look at accountabilities as clearly as we should,” he said. “Time is precious and you’ve got to deal with issues very quickly.”
Some TD employees lost their jobs in the wake of the U.S. probes — the bank fired more than a dozen people who worked with retail clients for code-of-conduct violations, and has also replaced about 10 people in senior legal and compliance roles.
Others also saw their pay cut as a result, Masrani said. “Listen, I’m the CEO of the bank,” he said. “I’m responsible. I own it.”
Asked Wednesday about his own future at the bank, he said only that TD has a “robust” succession planning process
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