TD plans to cut about 2% of workforce amid restructuring program

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Toronto-Dominion Bank rose after reporting earnings that topped estimates and unveiling a restructuring plan to curb costs that included workforce reductions.

The bank will cut about 2% of its workforce, or roughly 2,000 jobs, as part of the program it started in the second quarter. The restructuring will cost up to C$700 million ($505 million) on a pre-tax basis over the next several quarters, TD said in a statement Thursday.

The bank expects to deliver about C$100 million in pre-tax savings this fiscal year from the effort and annual savings of up to C$650 million beyond that. TD’s average number of full-time equivalent staff rose to 101,272 at the end of April, it said in its financial results.

The bank’s shares climbed as much as 4.4% on Thursday, the biggest intra-day gain since mid-January, after it reported earnings that surpassed analyst predictions. It earned C$1.97 per share on an adjusted basis in its fiscal second quarter, beating the C$1.78 average forecast.

The firm also set aside C$1.34 billion to cover souring loans for the three months through April, less than the C$1.41 billion analysts predicted. That was despite what Chief Executive Officer Raymond Chun called a “high degree of macroeconomic and policy uncertainty” on US tariffs.

“There are no quick fixes to the challenges our country is confronting,” Chun said on a call with analysts. While he’s optimistic that talks with the US will be productive in the wake of Canada’s recent federal election, “this is going to take time and considerable effort,” he said.

Chun took over as CEO in February and has embarked on a strategic review in the wake of TD agreeing to pay almost $3.1 billion to settle with US authorities last year over anti-money-laundering failures. The firm is also constrained from growing its American retail assets and has said it will direct new capital spending to its domestic banking and capital-markets operations.

Toronto-Dominion will announce its revised strategy and new financial targets at an investor day on Sept. 29, it said Thursday.

Kelvin Tran, the bank’s chief financial officer, said the cost-cutting program is part of the strategic review and is aimed at finding efficiencies in part by automating processes.

“We’re looking at how we can structurally reduce costs across the bank,” he said in an interview, adding that some of the employee exits will be “managed through attrition.”

A spokesperson for the bank said it had already started internally announcing some of the reductions, which affect its global staff.

Under its plan, the bank has already incurred C$163 million of pre-tax restructuring charges, tied to “real estate optimization, employee severance and other personnel-related costs, and asset impairment and other rationalization, including certain business wind-downs,” TD said.

Toronto-Dominion is the first of its large rivals to report earnings since US tariffs on a range of Canadian imports kicked in, raising the specter of slowing growth and job losses. That’s focused attention on the credit quality of businesses and consumers — and on the money lenders are setting aside in case they start to default on their debt.

TD set aside less money than expected for impaired loans this quarter but provisioned C$395 million for loans that are still in good standing but could face risks down the road. That was up from a release of C$4 million for performing loans in the first quarter.

“This quarter we saw strong execution across our businesses. The Canadian personal and commercial banking segment delivered growth on both sides of the balance sheet,” Chun said on the earnings call.

The bank’s wealth-management and insurance division as well as its capital-markets business also saw revenue growth in the period, TD said.

“Better than expected results reflected strength across all segments compared to our estimates,” Royal Bank of Canada analysts led by Darko Mihelic said in a note to clients.

“Overall, a positive result on the headline beat, which should drive the shares higher,” said Bank of Nova Scotia analysts led by Mike Rizvanovic.

Toronto-Dominion has ample capital — it raised $13.9 billion after selling its 10.1% stake in Charles Schwab Corp. earlier this year — and plans to buy back up to C$8 billion worth of its shares. Its stock has steadily climbed after settling the US money-laundering probes.