FSA fines Toronto Dominion Bank £7m

by Gill Montia

Story link: FSA fines Toronto Dominion Bank £7m

Toronto Dominion Bank has been fined £7 million by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for repeated systems and controls failings around the pricing of sophisticated financial products at its London branch.

The breaches relate to pricing issues uncovered on a proprietary trader’s books within the bank’s Credit Products Group, which resulted in a negative adjustment of CAD$96 million in July 2008.

The fine is the second faced by Toronto Dominion for systems and controls failings, and the fourth largest to be handed down by the regulator.

In November 2007 the bank was fined £490,000 when a fixed income trader attributed false values to his trading positions and created fictitious trades to hide significant losses on his book.

FSA director of enforcement, Margaret Cole, says: “This is one of our largest fines and it underlines the seriousness with which the FSA views repeat offences.”

She adds: “Toronto Dominion clearly failed to apply proper controls in this area despite its previous sanction and repeat offenders need to know that they will face severe consequences.”