TD Bank agrees to a $3 billion money laundering settlement

One of Canada’s largest banks has agreed to pay more than $3 billion in fines and pleaded guilty to criminal charges in the U.S. after failing to prevent drug cartels and other criminals from laundering hundreds of millions of dollars through its accounts .

TD Bank operated with inadequate anti-money laundering controls for nearly a decade, prosecutors said, ignoring obvious signs of abuse, including cases in which customers deposited up to $1 million in cash daily.

The settlement, which includes the largest fine ever imposed under US anti-money laundering laws, will also limit the bank’s growth in America.

“This is a difficult chapter in the history of our bank. These failures occurred under my watch as CEO and I apologize to all our stakeholders,” said Bharat Masrani, who recently announced his retirement with effect from April 2025 after leading the bank for a decade. .

The bank said it took “full responsibility” and would “make the investments, changes and improvements necessary to meet our obligations.” It has already hired more than 700 specialists to strengthen its anti-money laundering programs, although it acknowledged the overhaul would take several years.

TD Bank is the largest lender in U.S. history to plead guilty to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and the first to admit to a conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

“By making its services easy for criminals, TD Bank became one,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a news conference announcing the charges.

Prosecutors revealed that the bank failed to monitor more than 90 percent of transactions on its network in 2018, an activity worth more than $18 trillion. The compliance shortcomings were so well known internally that staff joked about the bank’s motto, “America’s Most Convenient Bank,” being targeted at criminals.

In one case, officials said a customer used TD Bank to launder more than $470 million in drug proceeds, making large cash deposits and bribing employees with gift cards. The scheme allowed payments from fentanyl users to flow back to drug networks in Mexico and China. In another case, five bank employees helped issue dozens of ATM cards to facilitate $39 million in illegal transfers to Colombia.

The settlement includes $1.8 billion to the Justice Department and $1.3 billion to the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, plus additional payments to other regulators. The bank will also receive independent supervision for four years.

TD Bank, which serves more than 27.5 million customers worldwide and is North America’s sixth-largest bank by assets, saw its shares fall more than 5 percent after the announcement.