1. TD Ameritrade COO Leaves.
2. TD Bank CEO Still Hungry for U.S. Banks.
3. Deutsche Bk Office in Moscow is Raided.
4. Ex-Dresdner Banker Gets 3 Years for Insider Trading.
5. SEC Names Acting Division Director.

    2. TD Bank CEO Still Hungry for U.S. Banks.   Toronto-Dominion Bank, which has more bank branches in the U.S. than in its home country, plans to continue its acquisition strategy of expanding its U.S. footprint with small deals, said CEO Ed Clark.  Some analysts have speculated that several U.S. regional banks, such as SunTrust Banks, may be potential takeover targets for Canadian banks, which emerged relatively unscathed and capital rich from the 2008 financial crisis.  Bank of Montreal last month announced a $4.1 billion purchase of Milwaukee-based Marshall & Ilsley.  The buying trend is likely to continue through 2012.  TD Bank also owns 46% of U.S. online brokerage TD Ameritrade. [WSJ Deal Journal, 1/11]

    3. Deutsche Bk Office in Moscow is Raided.   Masked policemen raided DB's Moscow office last week, questioning bankers and unnerving employees.  The police said they were searching for documents in a real estate deal linked to a member of the Russian Parliament, now living in exile in the U.S.  Deutsche Bank issued a statement that the search concerned the dealings of a single client, and that the firm's own work was not a matter of suspicion.  [NYTimes, 2/3]

    4. Ex-Dresdner Banker Gets 3 Years for Insider Trading.   Christian Littlewood, a former investment banker for Dresdner Kleinwort was sentenced to more than 3 years in prison for insider trading in Britain, after pleading guilty to passing on inside information about takeover deals he was working on at the bank.  Mr. Littlewood’s wife received a suspended sentence, while her friend, Helmy Omar Sa’aid, was sentenced to 2 years in prison.  The U.K.'s FSA first noticed some irregular trades in 2008 and soon started to monitor Mr. Sa’aid’s investments.  The FSA said it determined that Mr. Littlewood would pass information about coming deals to his wife, who would then tell Mr. Sa’aid.  Mrs. Littlewood and Mr. Sa’aid together invested the equivalent of $8.8 million over 10 years and made profit of about $1.6 million.   [NYTimes, 2/3]

    5.  SEC Names Acting Division Director.    Jonathan Sokobin was named Acting Director of the SEC's Division of Risk, Strategy, and Financial Innovation (Risk Fin), replacing Henry T.C. Hu who left the agency this week.  Dr. Sokobin is currently the Deputy Director and Managing Executive of the Division.   He joined the SEC staff full-time in 2000, specializing in the economics of corporate governance and disclosure.   [SEC PR 11-16, 1/20]