Toronto-Dominion Bank Posts Record Card Sign-Ups

Context

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) told investors it recorded a new high in card sign-ups and meaningful deposit gains at its investor conference on March 28, 2026, with management flagging near-term net interest margin (NIM) upside. The bank highlighted approximately 1.15 million new card sign-ups in the prior 12 months and said deposits increased by roughly CAD 14.3 billion, figures management presented at the conference and summarized in a Yahoo Finance report on March 28, 2026 (source: Yahoo Finance). TD positioned those metrics as drivers of both fee income and stable funding, while noting macro rate moves give the bank runway to expand NIM by a management-guided 10–25 basis points over the next 12 months. This development arrives against a backdrop of a Bank of Canada policy rate that stood at 5.00% on March 25, 2026, where higher policy rates historically compress deposit betas but can widen lending spreads if re-pricing is efficient (source: Bank of Canada).

The timing of the investor update is material: TD's commentary follows the bank's fiscal Q4 2025 results cycle and comes as Canadian Big Five banks report divergent trends in retail card growth and deposit dynamics. Market participants will compare TD's performance with peers such as Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS); for context, RBC disclosed deposit growth of about 2.1% YoY in its most recent quarterly report (Q4 2025, Feb 27, 2026), a figure TD executives contrasted when describing TD's more rapid deposit expansion (source: RBC Q4 2025 release). Investors and analysts will scrutinize whether TD's card acquisition translates into higher spend per account, better cross-sell conversion and, ultimately, durable revenue per customer.

These data points matter because they are leading indicators for both fee-income resilience and liability-cost trajectory—key inputs to NIM modeling. Card sign-ups can lift interchange revenue, annual fees and propensity to take additional bank products, while deposit growth affects low-cost funding and the speed at which asset yields can be re-priced in a higher-rate environment. Given the market's sensitivity to bank earnings beats and NIM trajectory, TD's claims warrant careful parsing for underlying quality and sustainability.

Data Deep Dive

TD quantified its card-sign activity and deposit inflows with specific metrics at the conference: roughly 1.15 million net new card sign-ups in the trailing 12 months and CAD 14.3 billion in deposit gains over the same period, per the March 28, 2026 investor presentation covered by Yahoo Finance. Those figures, if accurate, represent a step-up versus TD's prior 12-month cadence; TD management said card acquisitions were up approximately 28% year-over-year, while deposit growth accelerated to a quarterly sequential gain of 3.6% in Q4 2025. These are non-trivial moves for a bank of TD’s scale and have quantifiable implications for interchange income and core deposit stability.

On the NIM front, TD management stated an internal view that execution on asset re-pricing and deposit mix could deliver 10–25 basis points of incremental NIM over the next 12 months (source: TD investor conference, Mar 28, 2026). That guidance is directional rather than prescriptive; bridging to concrete earnings requires assumptions about loan growth, deposit betas and fee offsets. For comparison, the Canadian big-bank average NIM in 2025 was approximately 1.70% (S&P Capital IQ/industry composites), while TD's trailing NIM in fiscal 2025 was reported near 1.65%—leaving theoretical room for convergence to the peer group if management executes (source: S&P Capital IQ, TD FY2025 results).

Finally, the funding and capital context is important. TD's reported Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio was cited near 12.1% at the end of fiscal 2025, a level management described as providing flexibility for business growth and shareholder returns (TD FY2025 results). If deposit inflows are predominantly low-cost retail deposits, TD can both lengthen its funding runway and reduce reliance on wholesale sources, thereby improving funding stability and reducing volatility in net interest income across rate cycles.

Sector Implications

TD's message has implications beyond the bank itself: card penetration and deposit franchise strength are two competitive levers that determine market share within the Canadian consumer finance market. If TD is indeed converting sign-ups into spend and balances faster than peers, the bank could capture a disproportionate share of interchange revenue and unsecured lending growth. For example, an acceleration in card sign-ups of 28% YoY—if replicated across the sector—would shift the competitive landscape; however, TD's contemporaneous peer RBC posted lower card growth rates in 2025, underscoring TD’s relative momentum (source: RBC Q4 2025 release).

From an investor standpoint, the ability to expand NIM by 10–25 bps is economically meaningful. Using a simplified sensitivity, a 10 bps NIM expansion on a CAD 900 billion earning assets base would add approximately CAD 900 million in pre-tax net interest income annually; a 25 bps move implies ~CAD 2.25 billion—back-of-envelope but illustrative. The key caveat is that part of any NIM gain could be offset by deposit beta—how quickly TD raises rates paid to depositors—and competitive pricing pressure on new originations. Those dynamics are already evident in the Canadian market where deposit betas have varied; some peers have experienced deposit betas of 40–60% in prior tightening cycles, which would materially erode NIM upside if repeated (industry historical data).

Additionally, the signal to fixed-income and credit desks is that retail funding is being replenished, which can reduce TD’s near-term wholesale funding requirement and potentially lower funding costs. For capital markets desks, stronger deposit growth and card activity can support fee-based revenues and lower reliance on capital-intensive lending growth. That said, the speed of conversion from card acquisition to durable balances and fees remains the critical metric for sector-wide valuation uplift.

Risk Assessment

The primary risk to TD’s message is the quality of new card sign-ups. Customer acquisition volume alone does not guarantee higher lifetime value; conversion rates to revolving balances, delinquency patterns and churn will determine the revenue yield per account. Historical evidence shows acquisition-driven strategies that prioritize volume over credit quality can increase charge-offs and compress risk-adjusted returns over multi-year horizons. TD's past loss rates and vintage performance will need to be monitored to judge whether the current cohort is delivering above-average returns or simply inflating top-line metrics.

Macro and policy risks also matter. Should the Bank of Canada pivot and begin easing policy rates within a 6–12 month window, the immediate NIM upside could be reversed, and deposit betas could move differently than current management assumptions. Conversely, more persistent high rates could accelerate borrower stress in areas like unsecured lending and mortgages, creating credit risks that offset any NIM gains. Scenario analysis should include a downside where deposit betas rise to 60% and card delinquencies increase 20–30 basis points, offsetting part or all of the headline NIM improvement.

Operational and competitive risks include increased marketing spend to sustain acquisition momentum and rising interchange regulation risk in multiple jurisdictions. Regulators in Canada and internationally have scrutinized card and interchange practices in the past; any policy changes that reduce interchange economics would directly impair the rationale behind acquisition-led growth. Investors should therefore treat TD’s metrics as informative but contingent on a set of execution and macro conditions.

Fazen Capital Perspective

Fazen Capital views TD’s disclosure as a credible signal of commercial momentum, but we caution against an overly linear extrapolation from sign-ups to durable profitability. The market often rewards visible customer acquisition with multiple expansion, yet the true arbiter will be per-customer revenue and credit performance over the following 12–24 months. Our contrarian observation is that the street may be underestimating the optionality embedded in TD’s cross-sell engine: incremental NIM upside and fee income may accrue more from improved payment-product economics and targeted balance-transfer offers than from simple base-rate lending repricing. This suggests that the quality of product mix and digital engagement metrics could matter more than headline customer counts.

In relative terms, TD’s card growth and deposit inflows position it favorably versus peers in the near term, but the valuation impact will depend on whether management converts these flows into durable ROE expansion. We also note that if TD succeeds in converting a meaningful portion of new card customers into higher-yield unsecured balances without a commensurate rise in charge-offs, the bank could outperform the Canadian big-bank group by several hundred basis points on return-on-equity over a two-year horizon. That scenario is our base-case upside, but it requires disciplined underwriting and low incremental marketing-induced leakage.

For investors evaluating the stock, we recommend focusing on conversion metrics that are less noisy than raw sign-ups: spend per active account, balances per active account, cross-sell rates into personal loans and increases in monthly interchange revenue per active card. Fazen Capital research and prior reports develop these metrics in detail; see our work on card economics and bank liability management Fazen Capital insights and our methodology for NIM sensitivity analysis Research portal.

FAQs

Q: How quickly can TD translate card sign-ups into meaningful NII? A: Historically, card acquisition converts into material interchange and interest income within 6–18 months depending on marketing and promotional offers. Interchange revenue often accrues immediately with spending activity, but meaningful interest-bearing balances typically lag as customers either revolve balances or take up instalment-product offers; investors should monitor monthly active spend and revolving-balance metrics for early signals.

Q: What historical precedent exists for banks delivering 10–25 bps of NIM expansion from funding mix and deposit growth? A: In prior tightening cycles, leading Canadian banks have realized NIM expansions in the low double-digit basis-point range after re-pricing both assets and liabilities. For example, in 2018–2019, several large Canadian banks saw 8–20 bps of NIM movement tied to deposit beta normalization and asset repricing; outcomes varied across institutions based on the speed of deposit re-pricing and loan book composition (industry reports, 2018–2019).

Bottom Line

TD's reported 1.15 million card sign-ups and CAD 14.3 billion deposit gain are strategically significant and could underpin 10–25 bps of NIM upside if conversion and underwriting quality hold. Investors should focus on conversion metrics and deposit beta realization to judge whether the headline growth translates into durable earnings upside.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.