The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that TD Bank's admissions of guilt in the United States over its woeful handling of money-laundering crime beg the question: Were Canada's Finance Department and two of the bank supervisory agencies it oversees -- the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) and the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FinTRAC) -- asleep at the wheel? Guest columnist John Turley-Ewart writes that the U.S. Department of Justice case offers a clue, "TD Bank maintained elements of an AML program that appeared adequate on paper." It can also be put down to oversight confusion; in 2021, oversight of AML programs at Canada's banks was split between OSFI and FinTRAC. That was a mistake. OSFI is alive to the reputational damage the DOJ case against TD has caused. Canada's bank supervisor, Peter Routledge, took the unprecedented step of issuing a damage-control statement acknowledging the seriousness of the situation. He then pointed to FinTRAC, saying, "We reiterate our support for the work of FinTRAC, Canada's financial supervisor for antimoney-laundering activities." The TD debacle demands action from the Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland.
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