Toronto-Dominion Bank has hired another top-tier financial crimes expert as the lender moves to strengthen its risk controls and resolve lengthy money-laundering investigations in the United States.
Canada’s second-largest bank has recruited Stuart Davis to serve as an adviser to Chief Risk Officer Ajai Bambawale. Mr. Davis, who left his previous job at the Bank of Nova Scotia in May, is an American who has more than three decades of experience in anti-money laundering, sanctions compliance and regulatory risk management in Canada and the United States. His expertise includes remediating compliance programs and rectifying regulatory issues for financial institutions.
“Stuart will be joining TD on a short-term contract as an adviser to Ajai Bambawale and the risk leadership team on a range of strategic initiatives,” bank spokeswoman Elizabeth Goldenshtein wrote in an e-mail in response to a query from The Globe and Mail.
Mr. Davis declined to provide further details about his new role when contacted on Friday afternoon.
His appointment comes at a critical time for TD TD-T. The bank has spent the last year increasing its bench strength in anti-money-laundering compliance while also remediating weaknesses in its risk controls amid probes by three regulators and law enforcement in the United States. Those investigations are tied to a US$653-million money-laundering and drug-trafficking case and could result in financial penalties and other potential consequences that could constrain TD’s growth south of the border.
Mr. Davis, who is also one of North America’s foremost experts on combatting human trafficking, was last employed as executive vice-president of internal data protection at Scotiabank, according to his LinkedIn profile. Prior to that role, he served as executive vice-president of financial-crimes risk management and group chief anti-money-laundering officer at Scotiabank.
He has also held various anti-money-laundering leadership roles at Bank of Montreal, USAA Financial Services, First Data/Western Union Financial Services and Capital One.
Mr. Davis is the latest in a string of seasoned financial crime, regulatory and risk experts hired by TD.
Last week, The Globe reported that TD hired Nathalie Martineau as vice-president of anti-money-laundering, governance and control for Canada, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Ms. Martineau, who will join TD on Aug. 13, has both regulatory and banking experience. Her career has included roles at the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FinTRAC), the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Canada, the International Monetary Fund, BMO and JPMorgan Chase.
TD also hired former U.S. Department of Homeland Security director Brian Davis as its head of intelligence, emerging risk and trends in the U.S. In his previous role, he worked in the department’s cross-border financial crime centre.
The lender also appointed Erin Morrow its new chief compliance officer. Ms. Morrow, who was hired by TD in January from New York-based Citibank, replaces Monica Kowal in that role.
Prior to leaving TD at the end of June, Ms. Kowal was jointly overseeing part of the bank’s remediation efforts. OSFI had ordered the lender to repair deficiencies in its regulatory compliance management, or RCM, program after its own probe.