Toronto-Dominion Bank to track employee time with monitoring software

Toronto-Dominion Bank has told some employees in its financial crimes and risk management team that it will begin using software to track how they spend time at work, putting a high-surveillance lens on a department built around compliance and control. The system will measure time spent on browsers and on internal chat and meeting applications, according to a recording of a team call and a document shared with employees. The move lands at a sensitive moment for TD, which is still under pressure to prove it can tighten oversight after a sweeping U.S. anti-money-laundering case.

TD said the deployment was standard across the industry and that it uses automated tools in some parts of the business to improve insight and allocate resources more efficiently. Still, the choice to bring that kind of monitoring into financial-crimes and risk work raises a sharper question than ordinary productivity tracking: when does legitimate management oversight cross into intrusive surveillance of employees who already work under strict rules?

The timing gives the rollout added weight. On October 10, 2024, TD agreed to pay about $3.09 billion in combined penalties and related payments after U.S. authorities said its units failed to maintain adequate anti-money-laundering controls and were used to launder hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit proceeds. The Federal Reserve Board fined the bank $123.5 million and required enhanced measures to address AML and risk-management deficiencies, while the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency imposed a $450 million civil money penalty and restricted TD's growth. The U.S. Department of Justice said TD Bank N.A. and its parent pleaded guilty to conspiracy-related AML charges.

That history explains why TD is under intense scrutiny as it measures productivity inside a sensitive compliance function. Banks in regulated sectors often want more documentation, faster response times and tighter resource allocation, but employees may see software that records browser use and meeting time as a blunt instrument that overlooks the judgment work at the center of financial-crime review.

Canadian privacy rules set out clear expectations. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada says employers should make workers aware of the purpose, nature, extent and reasons for monitoring, and should limit collection to what is necessary. Ontario law also requires employers with 25 or more employees to maintain a written electronic monitoring policy.

TD's move suggests monitoring tools are becoming more embedded in corporate management, especially where regulators demand proof of control. For banks, the appeal is clear: more data, more visibility, more discipline. For workers, especially in high-stakes risk teams, the boundary between oversight and watchfulness is becoming harder to see.