On December 28, 2017, Pomerantz LLP was appointed Lead Counsel in a class action lawsuit against The Toronto-Dominion Bank (“TD Bank” or the “Company”) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, District of New Jersey, and docketed under 17-cv-01735, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired TD Bank securities between December 3, 2015 and March 9, 2017 both dates inclusive (the “Class Period”), seeking to recover compensable damages caused by defendants’ violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
The Toronto-Dominion Bank conducts a general banking business through banking branches and offices located throughout Canada and overseas. The Bank and other subsidiaries offer a broad range of banking, advisory services, and discount brokerage to individuals, businesses, financial institutions, governments, and multinational corporations.
The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company’s business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) the Company’s wealth asset growth and increased fee-based revenue was spurred by a performance management system that led to its employees breaking the law at their customers’ expense in order to meet sales targets; (ii) the Company illicitly increased customers’ lines of credits and overdraft protection amounts without their knowledge; (iii) the Company illicitly upgraded customers to higher-fee accounts without permission; (iv) the Company lied to customers as to the risk of the Company’s products and services; and (iv) as a result of the foregoing, TD Bank’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
On March 6, 2017, CBC News published a report based on interviews with several TD Bank Group employees, who spoke about the “incredible pressure” to “squeeze profits from customers by signing them up for products and services they don’t need.”
On March 10, 2017, CBC News published a more detailed second report, where it reported that hundreds of current and former employees had responded to the first CBC report with additional stories of pressure to upsell customers.
On this news, TD Bank’s share price fell $2.74, or 5.29%, to close at $49.03 on March 10, 2017.