TD Bank Simplifies Checking Account Disclosures

TD Bank became the second major bank to adopt the Pew Charitable Trusts' model disclosure form to simplify its checking account information for customers, the nonprofit organization said on Tuesday.

Banks have come under pressure from Pew and other consumer advocates to make checking account fees more transparent, and they are facing increased regulatory scrutiny over some of their disclosures. The median length of disclosure documents at the 10 largest banks in the U.S. run 111 pages, Pew said Tuesday.

The new disclosure for TD Bank, which is part of Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD), is less than three pages long and uses simple language to outline potential fees.

In December, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) became the first large bank to adopt the model disclosures proposed by Pew.