TD Bank is cutting 3% of its workforce, or more than 3,000 jobs, following lower-than-expected quarterly earnings, the Toronto-based lender announced Thursday.
Addressing the workforce cuts on a third-quarter earnings call, CFO Kelvin Tran told analysts the cuts were “pretty broad-based,” and confirmed that they go across “all business lines.”
A spokesperson told Banking Dive the bank is “undertaking a restructuring program to streamline, deliver efficiencies and create capacity to invest in future growth,” and that the 3% workforce reduction would be achieved “through attrition and by redeploying talent to open positions wherever possible to minimize the impact to people.”
TD recorded $363 million in restructuring charges in the fourth quarter tied to employee severance and other personnel-related costs, real estate optimization and asset impairments, the bank said, adding that similar charges are expected in the first half of 2024.
The bank is aiming for $600 million in savings, including $400 million in fiscal 2024, it said.
“While we are focused on expenses, we are pursuing meaningful revenue opportunities across our businesses,” Tran said. “We outlined our strategies to accelerate growth in our Canadian retail businesses at our recent Investor Day and the acquisition of TD Cowen provides additional capabilities for TD to grow its investment bank.”
TD adds to a growing list of job cuts at Canadian lenders, following 1,800 cuts at Royal Bank of Canada and 2,700 cuts at Scotiabank. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, too, announced plans to cut its workforce by 5% on Thursday.
TD is still under investigation by the Justice Department regarding compliance and anti-money laundering matters, originally disclosed in August, Bloomberg reported Thursday. While TD said it doesn’t expect the investigation to have a material impact on financial results, “there is a possibility that the ultimate resolution of legal or regulatory actions may be material to the bank’s consolidated results of operations for any particular reporting period,” the bank said.
Tran declined to comment on the investigation during Thursday’s earnings call.
