In what could be the ‘second coming’ of the Wells Fargo sales scandal – this time from across the Canadian border – an investigative reporter for CBC News described an environment at Toronto-Dominion Bank where TD employees are under “incredible pressure” to meet “unrealistic” sales goals that has led some to the opening of unauthorized accounts bearing higher fees.

CBC News issued an initial report on Monday that described high-pressure corporate environment at TD Bank, and followed that up with a second scathing report on Friday after hundreds of bank employees came forward with stories of pressure to ‘upsell’ customers.

TD Bank issued a statement denying the accuracy of the report and saying it does not reflect the experience of most of its employees. Nevertheless, the stock market responded with a sell-off of TD Bank, with shares closing down over 5% - its biggest one-day drop since 2009.

CBC REPORTS THAT LAWS WERE BROKEN.   CBC investigative reporter Erica Johnson writes about the “firestorm of reaction” from TD employees across the country, who describe a “pressure cooker environment they say is ‘poisoned’, ‘stress inducing’, ‘insane’ and has ‘zero focus on ethics’." 

Among the improprieties noted in the so-called testimonies:

• Failure to tell customers about unauthorized changes to their accounts.
• Unauthorized increases to credit lines.
• Unauthorized increases to overdraft protection amounts.
• Unauthorized increases to credit card limits.
• Unauthorized switching of customers to accounts with required minimum balances.
• Investing clients’ savings into unsuitable funds.