The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that TD Bank is facing years of constrained growth and pressure on profits, a worst-case scenario that will force the bank to shift its strategy after regulators put a straitjacket on key parts of TD's U.S. business. The Globe's James Bradshaw and Andrew Willis write that on Thursday, TD pleaded guilty to felony crimes in the U.S. and agreed to pay $3.09-billion (U.S.) in penalties stemming from major, widespread failures in its anti-money-laundering programs. The more damaging blow to TD was U.S. officials' decision to place an indefinite cap on the assets in TD's U.S. retail banking subsidiaries as of Sept. 30, which are now limited to $434-billion (U.S.). Other restrictions imposed by U.S. regulators will make it harder for TD to launch new products or open new branches. To stay onside with regulators, TD will slash its U.S. retail assets by 10 per cent to create a buffer with the asset cap, and hold more cash on hand. However, with its U.S. retail arm boxed in, the bank will be forced to put more capital to work in Canada -- where it already has a large share of a saturated market -- and in its U.S. wholesale bank, which is growing but not yet a major contender.
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