Toronto-Dominion Bank is likely to find itself shut out of US retail-banking acquisitions for three to five years because of the same regulatory problems that doomed its attempt to buy First Horizon Corp., according to a Barclays Plc analyst.
(Bloomberg) — Toronto-Dominion Bank is likely to find itself shut out of US retail-banking acquisitions for three to five years because of the same regulatory problems that doomed its attempt to buy First Horizon Corp., according to a Barclays Plc analyst.
The Canadian bank pulled out of a planned $13.4 billion deal for Memphis-based First Horizon on May 4, saying it couldn’t get regulatory approval before a May 27 deadline. A key hurdle for regulators was the bank’s practices for handling suspicious customer transactions, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News last week.
That issue won’t be resolved quickly, Barclays financial services analyst John Aiken said, meaning the bank is poised for an extended stay in the penalty box.
“It will take TD several years to not only change their systems but to show the regulator that they have changed,” Aiken said in a BNN Bloomberg Television interview Monday.
The collapse of the First Horizon deal leaves Toronto-Dominion with billions of surplus capital that it had been hoarding in anticipation of completing the transaction. “It’s probably the safest bank right now,” Aiken said. But, coming out of a possible recession, “TD’s extra level of capital causes a problem for them because they no longer have the ability to deploy it.”
Representatives for Toronto-Dominion didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
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