04:09 PM EDT, 10/10/2024 (MT Newswires) -- TD Bank pleaded guilty to charges that it violated anti-money laundering laws, saying Thursday it agreed to pay more than $3 billion in fines to US regulators.

The company will pay more than $1.8 billion to resolve the Justice Department's investigations that the company violated the Bank Secrecy Act, or BSA, by failing to maintain an anti-money launder, or AML, program, the DOJ announced.

"By making its services convenient for criminals, TD Bank became one," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. TD is the largest bank in US history to plead guilty to BSA program failures and the first to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, he said.

Another $1.3 billion penalty will be paid to the US Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The US Federal Reserve separately said that it fined Toronto-Dominion Bank ( MLWIQXX ) $123.5 million over anti-money laundering violations.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced a $450 million civil money penalty against TD Bank and TD Bank USA. TD Bank Group said in a statement that it, along with certain of its US units, consented to orders with the OCC, the Fed and FinCEN.

New York Stock Exchange-listed shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank ( MLWIQXX ) closed 5.3% lower on Thursday.

"We have taken full responsibility for the failures of our US AML program and are making the investments, changes and enhancements required to deliver on our commitments," TD Bank Group Chief Executive Bharat Masrani said. "This is a difficult chapter in our bank's history. These failures took place on my watch as CEO and I apologize to all our stakeholders."

TD Bank said the consolidated payment, which it put at $3.09 billion, is "largely covered" by provisions of $3.05 billion that it previously set aside. The company has undertaken a "significant, multi-year effort" to improve its AML program, including appointing a new US head of financial crime risk management and a BSA and AML officer, it wrote.

Total assets of TD Bank and TD Bank USA cannot exceed $434 billion as part of the resolution, according to a company statement. In addition, TD Bank USA will be subject to "more stringent" approval processes for new bank products or services, TD said.

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