Is TD Bank's compliance overhaul enough to dodge money laundering probes?

Monica Kowal, TD Bank's chief compliance officer, has left the bank and revealed an internal memo at a time when the Canadian lender was under pressure from US regulators and the Justice Department over its anti-money laundering program.

Monica Kowal, who joined TD Bank in 2017, left this week. Her role will be filled by Deputy Chief Compliance Officer Erin Morrow, who will report to Chief Risk Officer Ajai Bambawale, according to the late June memo obtained by Reuters.

The memo did not say why Kowal left. Previously, CEO Bharat Masrani said the bank has acted against responsible employees, including terminating them.

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TD Bank wouldn't comment on Kowal's departure, and Kowal was not available to make an immediate comment.

Morrow joined TD in January from US bank Citi, where she spent more than a decade. In recent months, TD also brought on Marcy Forman and Jacqueline Sanjuas from Citi to revamp its team, as well as Chief Global AML Officer Herbert Mazariegos from BMO.

The bank said, more than $500 million has been invested into training and the onboarding of hundreds of AML professionals, as well as bringing in dozens more executives to fortify its regulatory program. Earlier in May, Masrani admitted that the anti-money-laundering program at the bank failed in monitoring, detecting, reporting, and responding—describing the situation as "unacceptable."

TD Bank has initially provided $450 million and will pay more in fines. Analyst estimates of the fines run as high as $4 billion.