TD agrees to a settlement

Article Excerpt

TD BANK, $78.77, is a #1 Buy for 2024. The lender (Toronto symbol TD; Shares o/s: 1.7 billion; Market cap: $137.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 5.2%; www.td.com) has now agreed to a final settlement, including a fine of $3.09 billion U.S., due to lapses in anti-money laundering processes at its U.S. retail banking operations. The settlement also unexpectedly imposed an asset cap on TD’s U.S. retail banking operations. As a result, those assets cannot exceed $434 billion, which was their value on September 30, 2024. TD gets about 25% of its revenue from its U.S. operations, so this will undoubtedly hurt growth over the next few years While the punishment stains TD’s reputation, we feel the bank will overcome this setback. Incoming CEO Raymond Chun, who currently heads up the Canadian division, will replace Bharat Masrani in April 2025. To spur growth, he will likely focus on expanding the bank’s Canadian wealth management and corporate lending businesses. TD Bank is a #1 Buy for…