Ed Clark, CEO of TD Bank Financial Group, the parent company of Toronto-Dominion Bank, said in the company's third-quarter earnings conference call that the bank is well positioned to navigate through the current market turmoil and that he expects that the bank's performance to be relatively strong, even if the economy slows.

He did caution, however, that the fourth quarter is typically the weakest for the company.

Earlier in the day, TD Bank reported third-quarter earnings, with net income per share increasing to C$1.51 from C$1.09 in the year-ago period.

Bank executives reiterated throughout the call that exposure to credit risk was not a concern, saying that the company had no exposure to nonbank, third-party asset-backed commercial paper. Clark spoke to risk concerns, saying: "As for our overall position, how are we feeling today? Very comfortable. We have a limited underwriting portfolio and we do not see it posing significant earnings risk to us going forward, nor do we see ourselves pulling back from our aggressive support for our clients."

CFO Colleen Johnston pointed to the bank EarnSmart money market account as one of the quarter's successes, saying that the product has generated $2.4 billion in deposits in the six months has been available, with $900 million of that being new money.

Johnston said that the company's revenue initiative will be focused on customer service, by making adjustments such as "longer branch hours, billing product apps in the retail business line, simplifying our fee structure, and tailoring our compensation programs to align incentives with revenue growth and an improved customer experience." Clark also mentioned the increased hours of operation, saying that "this fall over 800 TD branches across Canada will be open at least 62 hours a week including 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Saturday."

Speaking specifically about its TD Banknorth Inc. business, Johnston said, "TD Banknorth is making good progress with cost control initiatives designed to reduce its annual expense base by 5[%] to 8%. ... As reiterated our investor day, TD Banknorth expects to hit the top end of this range.

In accordance with his stated desire to grow organically, Clark acknowledged that TD Bank considered and subsequently passed on a couple of small bank deals in the area, because it "didn't see a price reduction in them that we thought corresponded to" the conditions in the market.