TD Bank to pay $3.1 billion in fines for AML failures
TD Bank, the 10th largest bank in the United States and a subsidiary of T.D. banking group of Canada, would pay more than $3.1 billion in fines for failure to comply with US Bank Secrecy Act (US BSA) and money laundering provisions. In addition, it faces curbs on its retail deposit activity in the U.S. for a few years until it puts in place a robust AML compliance system.
The breakup of fine is as follows. Read as “Pay fine to = amount of fine”
Department of Justice = $1.8 billion
Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) = $1.3 billion.
Office of Comptroller of Currency = $450 million
Federal Reserve = $123.5 million
It is estimated that the lack of a robust AML program at the bank helped money laundering networks to launder more than $670 million through its accounts in the last few years. Investigation also revealed that bank employees received gift cards from money laundering networks worth more than $57,000 so that they would continue to process transactions.
The U.S Department of Justice in its press release noted the following.
“By making its services convenient for criminals, TD Bank became one. Today, TD bank also became the largest bank in U.S history to plead guilty to Bank Secrecy Act program failures, and the first US bank in history to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. TD bank chose profits over compliance with the law – a decision that is now costing the bank billions of dollars in penalties.”
