TORONTO (Reuters) – TD Bank’s chief compliance officer has left the bank, according to an internal memo, as the Canadian lender faces U.S. regulators and the Justice Department in an investigation into its anti-money laundering program.
Monica Kowal, who joined the bank in 2017, left the company this week and will be replaced by Erin Morrow, vice president of compliance, who will report to chief risk officer Ajay Bambawale, according to a memo sent in late June and seen by Reuters.
Bambawale did not elaborate on the reason for Kowal’s departure in the memo. Chief Executive Bharat Masrani had earlier said the bank had taken action against the employees responsible, including dismissal.
TD declined to comment on Kowal’s departure. Kowal could not immediately be reached for comment.
Morrow joined TD in January after spending more than a decade at Citibank. TD also hired Marcy Foreman and Jacqueline Sanguais from Citi and global AML head Herbert Mazariegos from Bank of Montreal to revamp the team.
The bank said it had invested more than $500 million in training programs, hired hundreds of anti-money laundering specialists and appointed executives to lead its regulatory program after Masrani said the bank’s anti-money laundering program failed to effectively detect, detect, report or respond to money laundering. He said in May that was “unacceptable.”
The bank also set aside an initial $450 million and said it expected additional fines. Analysts said the fines could reach $4 billion.