Group President and CEO’s Message

In 2021, TD bankers once again demonstrated their resilience and dedication to the Bank and to those we serve.

As we close this second year of unprecedented disruption, TD is strong, our businesses are growing, and we are well-positioned for the future.

90,000 colleagues across the globe worked at TD locations and from home to operate the Bank with excellence, advance our strategy and support the millions of families and businesses who have placed their trust in us. They also supported the communities in which we live and work, identified new opportunities to drive sustainable and inclusive growth, and contributed significantly to the economic recovery.

I could not be more proud of what our colleagues accomplished – they delivered for all our stakeholders, including our shareholders, during a time of prolonged uncertainty.

Performance and Progress

In 2021, TD delivered earnings of $14.3 billion ($14.6 billion on an adjusted basis), a 20% increase over 2020 and above our 2019 pre-pandemic level. Our personal and commercial banking businesses in Canada and the U.S. recorded strong volume and fee income growth as we added new customers and deepened existing relationships. Our Wealth and Insurance businesses delivered higher revenues and our Wholesale bank built on last year’s record performance, winning key client mandates and continuing to advance our U.S. dollar strategy. Our capital position remained strong with a Common Equity Tier 1 ratio of 15.2 per cent at year-end, up more than 200 basis points from the fourth quarter last year.

Reflecting these strong results, we declared a ten-cent dividend increase for the first quarter of fiscal 2022, after an industry-wide pause last year at the request of our regulators. We are pleased to be able to return capital to our shareholders, while retaining significant flexibility to invest in both organic and inorganic growth opportunities.

With technology increasingly shaping our customers’ day-to-day engagement with the Bank, we continued to innovate to support their changing needs. In 2021, we introduced new capabilities such as virtual check-in at our U.S stores, a self-service portal for TD Auto Finance and AI-enhanced digital experiences in our mobile banking app. In addition, TD Securities completed the acquisition of Headlands Tech Global Markets, further strengthening our electronic bond trading capabilities as we deliver data-driven innovation to expand our growing global platform.

All across the Bank, we continued to invest in our most important asset – our people – to enable them to grow their careers at TD. In the past year, more than three-quarters of our colleagues used our TD Thrive online learning platform to expand their skill set and deepen their knowledge to better serve our customers. I am pleased to recognize their extraordinary efforts with a one-time award of five TD shares to all eligible non-executive employees.

Sustainable and Inclusive Growth

At TD, our purpose is to enrich the lives of our customers, communities and colleagues, and we know that we will not thrive unless the communities around us thrive. Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) priorities are integral to our success and represent the foundations upon which we will build the next phase of growth – at TD and across our economies. In order to reinforce our ongoing efforts to embed these principles in our strategy and operations across the Bank, ESG performance is linked to the Senior Executive Team’s compensation, with the addition of new metrics in 2021 related to climate change, diversity and inclusion and employee engagement.

The urgency of climate change is real, and TD has taken important action to contribute to the transition to a low-carbon economy.

We entered fiscal 2021 with the launch of our Climate Action Plan, including a target of net-zero emissions from our operations and financing activities by 2050, and we concluded the year with a pledge to join the United Nations-sponsored Net-Zero Banking Alliance to foster global coordination and cooperation. We set clear goals as the year advanced and invested in our businesses to support our clients as they developed their own strategies to transition to a net-zero world. Through TD Securities’ expertise in Green Bond underwriting and the work of the Sustainable Finance and Corporate Transitions Group, we are helping the economies and businesses we support seize new opportunities and drive change. As a result of these and other efforts, I was particularly pleased that TD was listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for the eighth consecutive year.

The pandemic has also reinforced the need to accelerate efforts to create a more inclusive world and workforce. TD is building on our long track record of progress and is implementing programs across the Bank and within the community to help create a more inclusive future for everyone, in a society without bias, discrimination or racism. In recognition of our sustained efforts in creating a diverse and inclusive workplace, TD was recognized as one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers by Mediacorp and was named to the Forbes List of Best Employers for Diversity in the U.S.

In 2021, we were there when our customers needed us most and we are dedicated to promoting financial and economic inclusion to help more households and businesses gain access to much-needed financial services.

“At TD, our purpose is to enrich the lives of our customers, communities and colleagues, and we know that we will not thrive unless the communities around us thrive.”

During the pandemic, we extended billions in additional credit and payment deferrals and helped deliver government relief programs including the Canada Emergency Business Account Program and the Paycheck Protection Program in the U.S. Recently, we announced a new strategic alliance with Canada Post, which aims to increase access to financial services for Canadians in rural, remote and Indigenous communities. And in the U.S., we introduced TD Essential Banking, a low-cost deposit account designed to meet the needs of unbanked and underbanked households.

Building Together

In 2022, our proven business model, which has delivered consistent earnings, our long-term strategy and the critical investments we are making will allow us to introduce new products and services, offer sound and timely advice to our customers and continue to drive growth. We will also invest in our communities, promote inclusion and work with all of our stakeholders to address society’s biggest challenges.

My confidence in the future comes from my confidence in our people. It is not just what they delivered this year that matters, but how they delivered – with care, dedication and compassion for each other and those we serve.

I would like to thank TD colleagues around the world for their tremendous efforts, our customers for their trust, and you, our shareholders, for your continued support.

Bharat Masrani
Group President and Chief Executive Officer