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One of the most obvious solutions for a retail bank like TD would be to hike fees “but politically it’s very difficult to do that,” Mr. Clark said, referring to recent moves by regulators and policy makers especially in the U.S. to put limits on fees that banks charge their customers.

Another possibility is to go after expenses, which have been growing at around 3% a year at Canada’s second largest bank by assets. On that front, Mr. Clark vowed that workers in the trenches will not see their paycheques cut.

“We are not going to do this on the backs of the average employee,” he said.

Instead, TD may look at revamping some of its products, he suggested, noting that if the bank “can’t change the fee” it charges on bank accounts, it’s got to “change the cost of delivering that bank account.”

The comments come amid a period of historic change in financial services that is already forcing players to change the way they do business.

“We’re at an unprecedented turning point,” according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers. “There’s massive regulatory reform and uncertainty, we’re rebounding from a series of recent scandals that have rocked the wider markets, and the industry must anticipate and respond to shifting consumer behaviours. demands and demographics.”

The report, published this month, points out that three of the big banks “actually saw their share prices drop” in 2012, as investors worried about issues such as ballooning household debt and the potential outcome for lenders.