TD suspends guidance, conducting strategic review as it works on turnaround
TORONTO — TD Bank Group has suspended its financial guidance as it works through a strategic review ahead of a leadership change at the beleaguered bank.
The bank made the announcement as it reported a fourth-quarter profit that was up from last year because of a boost from selling some of its Charles Schwab Corp. holdings, while its adjusted earnings dropped as it continued to grapple with the fallout from anti-money laundering deficiencies.
“In my role as incoming CEO, we are undertaking a broad and detailed review of the bank strategies and investment priorities,” said chief operating officer Raymond Chun, who is set to replace Bharat Masrani in the top job in April.
“It’s my opportunity to dive deep and make sure that we’re putting TD in the best position possible as we think about how we’re going to compete in the medium and long term,” Chun said on an earnings call Thursday.
Asked by an analyst if the review will include potential asset sales in the U.S., Chun said everything is on the table and that he expects to provide an update on the results in the second half of 2025.
In the meantime, the bank has suspended its medium-term financial targets including earnings per share growth, return on equity and positive operating leverage, all of which it plans to provide updated targets for once the review is complete.
TD shares were trading down more than five per cent by early afternoon on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The big changes come as the bank works to complete remediation efforts to bring its anti-money laundering program up to regulatory standards.
For the year ahead, the bank said it will be challenging to generate earnings growth as it navigates its transition.
TD agreed in October to pay fines totalling more than $4.23 billion after pleading guilty to multiple charges in the U.S. related to its failings. Regulators also imposed an asset growth cap on its U.S. retail banking operations.
Masrani said the bank expects to have the majority of the management remediation actions implemented by the end of calendar 2025, while it is also working to strengthen its money laundering oversight across the enterprise.
To help pay the U.S. fines, TD sold 40.5 million Schwab shares in August and recorded a $1.02-billion gain from the sale in the fourth quarter.
The sale helped lead to a reported profit of $3.64 billion, up from $2.87 billion in the same quarter last year.
Adjusted earnings, however, were down eight per cent to $3.2 billion in what Masrani called a challenging quarter.
Adjusted earnings worked out to $1.72 per diluted share in its latest quarter, down from an adjusted profit of $1.82 per diluted share a year earlier.
Analysts on average had expected an adjusted profit of $1.82 per share, according to data provided by LSEG Data & Analytics.
The miss was largely from higher-than-expected expenses, while the bank’s revenues, taxes and provisions for credit losses came in better than expected, said Scotiabank analyst Meny Grauman in a note.
He said that while the miss was a disappointment, he was more disappointed by the lack of guidance for the year ahead.
“We would have hoped that TD would have been able to provide a little more concrete guidance to investors here right now,” he said.
“Waiting another half a year or more for management to tell us what the longer-run implications of its U.S. consent order are leaves the stock without a proper anchor, and makes the investment thesis here more challenging despite the very deep discount to peers.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 5, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:TD)
Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press
