TD Bank will pay approximately $3 billion in a historic settlement with U.S. authorities who said Thursday that the financial institution’s lax practices allowed significant money laundering over multiple years.

Canada-based TD Bank pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, the largest bank in U.S. history to do so, Attorney General Merrick Garland said.

“TD Bank created an environment that allowed financial crime to flourish,” Garland said. “By making its services convenient for criminals, it became one.”

High-level executives were alerted to serious problems with the bank’s anti-money laundering program, but failed to correct them as employees openly joked about how easy it seemed for criminals to launder money there, Garland said.

The bank is the 10th largest in the United States, and its CEO said the company takes full responsibility and has been cooperating with the investigation. It’s been taking steps to fix its U.S. anti-money laundering program, including appointing new leadership and adding hundreds of new specialists, said TD Bank Group CEO Bharat Masrani.

“We know what the issues are, we are fixing them. As we move forward, we’re ensuring that this never happens again,” Masrani said. “And I’m 100% confident that we get to the other side and emerge even stronger.”

The Justice Department said the bank allowed at least three different money laundering networks to move a total of $670 million through TD Bank accounts over a period of several years.

In one case, a man moved more than $470 million in drug proceeds and other illicit funds through TD Bank branches, bribing employees with more than $57,000 in gift cards.

He chose TD Bank because it had the “most permissive policies,” more than once depositing more than $1 million in cash in a single day and then moving the funds out of the bank with checks or wire transfers, Garland said. It continued despite employees expressing concern about what he was doing.

There were also piles of cash dumped on a bank’s counters and ATM withdrawals that totaled 40 times to 50 times higher than the daily limits, said Philip Sellinger, U.S. attorney in New Jersey.

— Associated Press

Delta earnings drop 26% post-outage

Third-quarter earnings fell 26% at Delta Air Lines, which struggled to overcome a global technology outage that led to thousands of flight cancellations, and indications that growth in air travel is beginning to slow.

Delta earned $971 million, down from $1.31 billion a year earlier. Revenue rose slightly, but spending on labor, airport landing fees and its Delta Connection regional affiliate grew much faster, the Atlanta airline said Thursday.

The airline said, however, that it will return to year-over-year earnings growth in the October-December quarter. Delta figures to benefit from a pullback in flying by lower-cost competitors, and the airline is seeking compensation for the July outage that cost it $500 million.

CEO Ed Bastian said bookings for Thanksgiving and Christmas are strong, but he expects a brief drop in travel spending before the holidays while Americans fret about the outcome of the November elections.

Atlanta-based Delta is the primary carrier serving Minnesota.

U.S. jobless claims at high point for year

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits last week jumped to its highest level in a year, which analysts are saying is more likely a result of Hurricane Helene — and the Boeing machinist strike — than a broader softening in the labor market.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for jobless claims jumped by 33,000 to 258,000 for the week of Oct. 3. That’s the most since Aug. 5, 2023, and well above the 229,000 analysts were expecting.

Analysts highlighted big jumps in jobless benefit applications last week across states that were most affected by Hurricane Helene, including Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Nancy Vanden Houten, lead U.S. economist of Oxford Economics, said that Washington state was the most impacted by the Boeing strike and accounted for a disproportionate share of the increase.

Average mortgage rate takes large weekly jump

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. surged to 6.32% this week, adding pressure on home buyers facing sky-high prices and a limited supply of houses for sale.

The rate ticked up from 6.12% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 7.57%.

Two weeks ago, the average rate slipped to its lowest level in two years — 6.08% — boosting home shoppers’ purchasing power as they navigate a housing market with prices near all-time highs.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners seeking to refinance their home loan to a lower rate, increased again this week. The average rate rose to 5.41% from 5.25% last week. A year ago, it averaged 6.89%, Freddie Mac said.

— From news services