Toronto–Dominion Bank (TD Bank)

• Date founded: 1955
• Industry: Banking, financial services
• Corporate headquarters: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Type: Public

Formed in 1955, Toronto-Dominion Bank is one of Canada’s “Big Five” financial institutions. With extensive operations in retail and wholesale banking, Toronto-Dominion Bank and its many subsidiary companies are jointly known as TD Bank Group, or simply TD. In 2024, Standard & Poor ranked Toronto-Dominion Bank the twenty-eighth largest in the world by assets under management on its annual list of the one hundred largest banks in the world, with US$1.428 trillion in holdings. It was the second-largest bank in Canada.

In 2024, Toronto-Dominion Bank served a customer base of approximately 28 million clients with 95,000 full-time and part-time employees. The company’s shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol “TD.” Toronto-Dominion's 2024 data indicated the bank had more than 1,000 locations and 2,500 ATMs across Canada and over 1,100 locations and 2,600 ATMs in the United States. These locations provide individual, corporate, and institutional clients with asset management, wealth management, and investment brokerage operations. Additionally, TD is involved in the North American automobile finance, consumer credit, corporate and business credit, and insurance industries.

History

Toronto-Dominion Bank was formed by the 1955 merger of the Bank of Toronto and the Dominion Bank. Established a century before the completion of the merger, the Bank of Toronto was founded by a cooperative of stakeholders in Canada’s emerging grain industry. The Dominion Bank was chartered in 1869 and opened its first branch in 1871.

During their early years, both of these predecessor institutions focused their growth in central and eastern Canada, concentrating primarily on the Ontario market. In the 1880s, Canada’s western regions began to develop at a rapid pace, prompting the Dominion Bank to establish a location in Winnipeg in 1897. The Bank of Toronto’s first western location opened in Rossland, British Columbia, in 1899.

Like the other financial institutions that eventually emerged as Canada’s “Big Five” banks, TD’s forerunners enjoyed a period of explosive growth during the early decades of the twentieth century leading up to the Great Depression. The Bank of Toronto branch count rose from 16 in 1900 to 161 by 1920. The Dominion Bank expanded internationally, establishing operations in London, England, in 1911 and opening a New York City location in 1919. After withstanding the financial hardships brought on by the Great Depression, both institutions benefitted from the booming Canadian economy in the years that followed World War II (1939–1945). The prosperity of the late 1940s and early 1950s led the two banks to discuss a framework for a merger, which was completed in 1955. The Toronto-Dominion Bank officially began operations on February 1, 1955, with 499 branches and a workforce of approximately 5,500 employees.

After a new headquarters in downtown Toronto’s financial district in 1967, Toronto-Dominion Bank embarked on an international expansion that focused on commercial real estate financing and acquisitions, investment banking and brokerage services, securities trading, and money market investing.

During the 1990s, Toronto-Dominion Bank completed a series of acquisitions that greatly raised its profile. After taking over the assets controlled by Central Guaranty Trust in 1992, TD purchased Waterhouse Investor Services in 1996. This acquisition greatly increased its discount brokerage operations. In 2000, TD purchased Canada Trust, a nationwide trust company known for its extended hours of operation. The bank’s retail operations in Canada have since been branded as TD Canada Trust.

Toronto-Dominion Bank has since established a foothold in the United States, acquiring the regional operator Banknorth in 2005 and becoming one of North America’s top three discount brokerages the following year by merging its holdings in TD Waterhouse and Ameritrade. Toronto-Dominion Bank then bought Commerce Bancorp in a transaction that closed in 2008. This established TD as the seventh-largest banking operator in North America, as measured by its total number of retail branch locations.

Impact

Toronto-Dominion Bank has been a mainstay of the Canadian finance industry since its 1955 founding. Its Toronto headquarters is one of the country’s most recognizable skyscrapers. When it opened in 1967, the Toronto-Dominion Tower was the tallest building in Canada. It has since been surpassed by four other Toronto skyscrapers but remains a prominent landmark in the city’s financial district.

For Canadian consumers, the bank’s 2000 procuring of Canada Trust arguably had the most visible impact of any of its many acquisitions. Canada Trust established a reputation for offering the most accessible hours of any major financial institution in Canada with its policy of opening from 8:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday. The resultant retail operation, TD Canada Trust, retained this strategy and created an extended service precedent that other members of Canada’s “Big Five” banks have since mirrored.

Thanks to its takeovers of Banknorth and Commerce Bancorp, TD ranks as one of the most recognizable Canadian financial brands in the United States. TD Bank Group adopted Commerce Bancorp’s advertising tagline, “America’s Most Convenient Bank,” when it completed its 2008 takeover of the retail institution. TD continued to maintain Commerce Bancorp’s extended hours, which keep branches open seven days a week and 361 days per year.

As a top-ten bank in North America and a top-twenty-five bank globally, Toronto-Dominion Bank also plays a major role in the international financial markets and global economy. TD’s operational model as a large global operator has demonstrated strength during major financial crises, which further elevated the firm’s profile. The bank is also recognized as a top employer in Canada and makes extensive donations to a wide range of philanthropic and charitable causes. In 2022, the bank donated over $1 million to Ukrainian humanitarian efforts, $600,000 towards the construction of the Virtual Center for Cancer Support by the TD platform, and $250,000 towards recovery efforts following Hurricane Fiona.

However, in late 2024, the bank experienced several scandals, including the US arm of the company pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering in October 2024. The bank paid over US$1.8 billion in penalties as part of its plea arrangement. As a result, TD Bank underwent a restructuring that involved cutting more than 3,000 jobs, and the bank’s financial goals for 2025 were suspended.

Bibliography

Bonham, Mark S. “Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD).” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 27 June 2024, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/td-bank-financial-group. Accessed 15 Jan. 2025.

“Corporate Profile.” TD Bank Financial Group, 2024, www.td.com/ca/en/about-td/corporate-profile/corporate-information. Accessed 15 Jan. 2025.

Konzelmann, Suzanne J., and Marc Fovargue-Davies, editors. Banking Systems in the Crisis: The Faces of Liberal Capitalism. Routledge, 2012.

“Our Roots.” TD Bank Financial Group, www.td.com/ca/en/about-td/corporate-profile/tds-history/our-roots. Accessed 15 Jan. 2025.

“The Toronto-Dominion Bank: Overview." Globaldata, 19 Jan. 2025, www.globaldata.com/company-profile/the-toronto-dominion-bank/. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.