TD Bank history

Since our founding in 1855, TD Bank Group has grown from a single-branch bank serving grain millers and merchants, to a major financial services company, providing financial solutions to individuals and businesses around the world.

The Millers' Association of Canada West, as Ontario was then known, coordinated its preliminary affairs, and on July 8, 1856, the bank opened its doors to the public.

In 1860, it opened its first branch outside of Ontario, in Montreal.The Bank of Toronto established itself as an efficient, profitable, but essentially conservative bank through the 19th century.

The Canadian economy rebounded when markets in the United States reopened after the American Civil War in 1865.

1866 Founding of DeloroMen of the MineLife in a Company TownThe Deloro Clean UpDeloro War MemorialDeloro Sports GalleryThe Deloro General StoreDeloro Company photo gallery

Inspired by the prosperity and optimism following Canada's founding in 1867, a group of professionals, industrialists and financiers raised funds to create a new financial institution.

Eager to help the young country finance important nation-building projects, the Canadian Parliament issued a charter to The Dominion Bank in 1869.

Core customers remained farmers, merchants, and processors of farm products (millers, brewers, distillers).In 1871, a group of entrepreneurs and professionals under the leadership of James Austin launched the Dominion Bank to join the Bank of Toronto in the Ontario market.

Like all Canadian banks, they endured criticism of their credit policies and resisted the creation of a central bank to control the money supply and advise on fiscal policy. It also had direct ties to Toronto General Trusts, Canada’s first trust company, incorporated in 1872.

In 1897, the Dominion Bank opened its first western branch in Winnipeg and two years later the Bank of Toronto opened a branch in the British Columbia mining town of Rossland.

The impact of the 1929 stock market crash in New York was compounded in Canada by the beginning of a seven-year drought.

Partly as a response to the outcry but also as an attempt to coordinate the industry, the Bank of Canada was founded in 1934 to issue currency, set interest rates, and formulate national monetary policy.

By 1954, both the Bank of Toronto and the Dominion Bank occupied a special position among the nine major banks in Canada.

On February 1, 1955, the Toronto Dominion Bank was born with 499 branches and a combined team of 5,500 employees.

In 1964, to celebrate its 100th Anniversary, Huron & Erie sponsored tree plantings in communities across Canada.

TD first appeared on TV in 1968, when its debut commercials included the slogan "The Bank Where People Make the Difference."

Capping this era of modernization, TD's introduced a new corporate identity in 1969 with the iconic TD Shield.

Founded in 1973, Commerce Bank expanded rapidly over the next 30 years into metro New York and Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and South Florida, winning new customers with WOW! service and convenience.

Canada Trust was recognized for its unparalleled customer service – including its precedent-setting extended hours of “8 to 8 six days straight” in its branches, which was launched in 1976.

Problems began in 1981 when Dome purchased Conoco for US$1.7 billion.

The bank moved into the discount brokerage business in 1984 with the introduction of Green Line Investor Services and less than a decade later launched its full service brokerage, TD Evergreen.

In 1987, the company established Toronto Dominion Securities Inc. to provide corporate, treasury and investment banking services to corporate clients.

In October of 1992 an agreement was struck to purchase the positive assets of Central Guaranty Trust (the company itself was not purchased). The acquisition was completed on December 31, 1992.

Commerce had earned its tagline "America's Most Convenient Bank" in 1994 when it introduced extended branch hours seven days a week, 361 days a year.

By 1995 the bank was offering nearly 50 different funds.

In 1996, the bank created its web site and launched TD Access: PC, North America’s first fully integrated banking and brokerage PC package.

He succeeded Thomson as CEO in February 1997 and then as chairman one year later.

In March 1998 another California discount broker, Jack White & Co., which was headquartered in San Diego, was acquired for US$100 million.

The bank reported net income of C$3.03 billion for the year ending in October 1999, the largest such figure on record by a Canadian bank.

With more than 89 000 employees and over 22 million clients worldwide, TD Bank Group is one of the largest banks in Canada by total assets and it is also considered one of the top 2000 largest public companies in the world, according to Forbes.

In October 2001 TD Bank regained full control of TD Waterhouse by acquiring the 12 percent publicly traded stake for US$386 million.

In July 2002 the U.K. operations of TD Waterhouse were further bolstered through the purchase of 50 percent of NatWest Stockbrokers, which had been wholly owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc.

Toronto-Dominion Bank then became majority owner in 2004 and renamed it "TD Banknorth, N.A." by adding the Canadian bank's popular "TD" initials.

Also in 2005, TD acquires 51% of Banknorth.

In 1996 the New York-based Waterhouse Investor Services was purchased, a move that doubled the size of TD's discount brokerage overnight. It acquired 51% of TD Banknorth, which Forbes Magazine had dubbed the "best managed bank in America". A year later, in 2006, TD merged its United States based TD Waterhouse discount brokerage operations with TD Ameritrade, creating a top three discount broker in North America.

In 2007, TD acquired the remaining shares of TD Banknorth and announced its intention to acquire Commerce Bancorp.

On May 31, 2008, Toronto-Dominion Bank acquired Commerce Bank, and merged it with TD Banknorth to form TD Bank, N.A..

TD Banknorth locations followed suit in September 2009, completing the merger of the two companies and uniting them under the TD Bank brand name.

In 2010, TD Bank N.A. acquired the South Financial Group and its 172 branches across the Carolinas and Florida.

Carolina First Bank in North and South Carolina and Mercantile Bank in Florida were rebranded in June 2011.