TD Bank takes US$2.6 billion hit on U.S. probe, sells Schwab shares

(Bloomberg) — Toronto-Dominion Bank is taking a provision of US$2.6 billion for fines it expects to pay for failures in its money-laundering controls, and has sold part of its stake in Charles Schwab Corp. to fund it.

Canada’s second-biggest bank made the announcement on Wednesday after markets closed. Its Schwab stake will fall to 10.1% from 12.3%.

Last year, Toronto-Dominion’s landmark $13.4 billion deal to acquire First Horizon Corp. fell apart, with the Canadian lender saying it was unclear regulators would ever greenlight the deal. Soon after, TD acknowledged that it was receiving inquiries from the US Department of Justice, in addition to financial regulators and the Treasury Department.

The core allegations are that it failed to catch money laundering and other financial crimes at several US branches. Toronto-Dominion has more than 10 million customers in the country and a network of almost 1,200 branches along the US east coast.

The bank said in April that it had booked an initial provision of $450 million in connection with the anti-money laundering investigations. It said the charge was related to talks with just one of three regulators, and that the fine could ultimately exceed that amount.

The additional $2.6 billion provision reflects the current estimate of the total fines related to its anti-money-laundering failures. “The bank expects that a global resolution will be finalized by calendar year-end,” Toronto-Dominion said in the statement.

Analysts have suggested the bank might also face years of restrictions on either organic growth or acquisitions in the US, where it has built a significant retail business.

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