FCAC announces an administrative monetary penalty paid by the Toronto-Dominion Bank

FCAC announces an administrative monetary penalty paid by the Toronto-Dominion Bank

FCAC applied an administrative monetary penalty of $5.5 million on the Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) for a violation of consumer provisions in the Bank Act. The violation is described in Summary of Proceeding #3, published today. TD has paid the penalty.

TD failed to provide consumers of certain mortgage, home equity lines of credit, personal loans and small business loans (Loan Accounts) with accurate disclosure of the cost of borrowing, contrary to the obligations in the Bank Act. The violation relates to an error in the Bank’s calculation of the principal and interest payment amounts following a request from certain customers for a change to their loan payment frequency.

The Bank committed this violation from September 1, 2001, to February 22, 2024.160,658 loan accounts were affected, representing a financial impact of over $12.1 million. TD has reimbursed affected consumers, including a credit for redress interest. 

Accurate disclosure is a foundational element of the consumer protection provisions of the Bank Act. For consumers to make informed financial decisions, they must be provided information that is accurate and, at a minimum, meets regulatory requirements.

All federally regulated financial institutions are expected to review the findings of FCAC Decisions and Summaries of Proceedings and apply them to their own practices, as appropriate, in an effort to achieve the highest levels of compliance with protections for financial consumers.

The role of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) is to protect financial consumers by strengthening the financial literacy of Canadians and supervising the compliance of federally-regulated entities, including banks, with their legislative obligations, codes of conduct and public commitments.

FCAC’s Supervision Framework explains the tools that FCAC employs to conduct its supervision and enforcement work.