Regulation

The agency had been on the verge of downgrading Philadelphia-based Republic First Bancorp's CAMELS rating to the lowest level but opted for a less severe remedy after a November 2020 visit.

With plans to open 100 banking centers in "banking deserts," the $3 trillion JPMorgan Chase is arguably the nation's largest community bank. Other big banks should take notice and follow suit, and regulators should encourage them.

Daria Sewell pleaded not guilty to possessing customers' personally identifiable information. The case adds to the Canadian bank's anti-money-laundering woes.

The plea agreement, which includes a fine of more than $1.4 billion, penalizes TD for systemic money laundering violations. "We have the ability to profit, and we should be able to profit, but not at the expense of the law," said U.S. District Judge Esther Salas.

An uptick in fines associated with anti-money-laundering failures demonstrates that U.S. banks still have much work to do in terms of optimizing their internal systems to identify and stop the flow of dirty money.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in a letter that the Department of Justice intentionally avoided threatening TD Bank's charter to operate. The Massachusetts Democrat also pressed the agency to prosecute bank executives.

The megabank disclosed that regulators are looking at its anti-money-laundering and sanctions compliance. Wells Fargo was recently hit with an enforcement action over similar matters.

At the Most Powerful Women in Banking conference this week, New York's top banking regulator said banks need to take full responsibility for the artificial intelligence models they use, even if they bought them from a third party.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is referring the issue to the Department of Justice. The failure of the $107.8 million bank will also cost the Deposit Insurance Fund an estimated $43 million.

TD Bank's guilty plea to extensive money-laundering charges last week did not include any criminal charges against individual bank executives. That absence has critics fuming, but experts say bringing charges against individuals isn't so easy.