OCC Issues Cease and Desist Order, Assesses $450 Million Civil Money Penalty, and Imposes Growth Restriction Upon TD Bank, N.A. for BSA/AML Deficiencies

WASHINGTON—The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) today announced a cease and desist order and a $450 million civil money penalty against TD Bank, N.A. and TD Bank USA, N.A. (bank), for deficiencies in the bank’s Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and anti-money laundering (AML) compliance program. Today’s action also imposes a restriction on the growth of the bank and a measure designed to ensure that the bank invests sufficient resources to remediate its BSA/AML deficiencies in a timely manner.

“TD Bank’s persistent prioritization of growth over controls allowed its employees to break the law and facilitate the laundering of hundreds of millions of dollars. The bank’s blatant risk management failures attracted illicit actors and are egregious and unacceptable,” said Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael J. Hsu. “The OCC’s coordinated and comprehensive action, including the imposition of an asset cap, will ensure that the bank focuses on building proper controls commensurate with its risk profile.”

The OCC determined that the bank failed to develop and maintain a BSA/AML program reasonably designed to assure and monitor compliance with the BSA and its implementing regulations. Deficiencies in the bank’s BSA/AML program included those related to internal controls and risk management practices; risk assessments; customer due diligence; customer risk ratings; suspicious activity identification, evaluation, and reporting; governance; staffing; independent testing; and training, among others.

The OCC found that the bank had significant, systemic breakdowns in its transaction monitoring program. The bank processed hundreds of millions of dollars of transactions with clear indicia of highly suspicious activity, creating a potential for significant money laundering, terrorist financing, or other illicit financial transactions. The bank repeatedly failed to take appropriate and timely corrective action to address the highly suspicious activity and failed to properly emphasize BSA/AML compliance.

The bank had a systemic breakdown in its processes to identify and report suspicious activity, and a pattern or practice of noncompliance with the suspicious activity report filing requirement, resulting in numerous violations. The bank also violated currency transaction reporting requirements on numerous occasions.

The OCC action is being taken in coordination with concurrent actions by the Department of Justice, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The OCC-assessed penalty will be directed to the U.S. Treasury.

Related Links

• Consent Order (PDF)
• Civil Money Penalty (PDF)
• Enforcement Action Types
• Fact Sheet (PDF)