TD Bank Group started in Toronto and has become the sixth-largest North American bank by using a basic business model, Ed Clark, president and CEO, told CNBC Friday.
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TD Bank
"The simplest model you could possibly have is just open branches — we call them stores in the United States — in great locations, open them longer than everyone else...and then give just spectacular friendly service," Clark said.
If you do that, along with conservative lending, you'll take market share on a "continuous basis," he added.
Since TD Bank was not hurt by the financial crisis it has been available to "other banks' clients and customers where they were, in a sense, restrained," Clark explained.
Also, TD has become a "significant" player in the mortgage market, filling a gap where people are having trouble getting mortgages, he said. "People want to restore their personal balance sheets."
Clark said he doesn't know "how China can run its exchange rate policy without starting to put the brakes on internally in its economy because it's going to have inflation."
As a result, "some of that boost to the Canadian economy is going to slow down," he added.
Also going to slow down is the housing boom in Canada, Clark noted. "Therefore, we will be more dependent on the outcome in the US, which we were able to escape for the first few years."
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