A slow-burning U.S. probe of TD Bank is investigating its suspected role in laundering money in a US$653-million drug case, according to reports by The Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail. An unspecified foreign bank operating in the United States took cash deposits from a fentanyl ring and helped move the money abroad, according to U.S. prosecutors and court documents. The news outlets now cite unnamed sources identifying that foreign bank as TD. (The Wall Street Journal, The Globe and Mail)

Talking point: TD revealed Tuesday that it had put aside US$450 million against future penalties under U.S. money laundering and bank secrecy rules. “TD’s [anti–money-laundering] program was insufficient to effectively monitor, detect, report and respond to suspicious activity,” its announcement admitted. On Thursday, Canada’s own money-laundering authority announced it had imposed a $9.2-million charge over numerous TD failures to address and report high-risk transactions and customers.