TORONTO, April 12, 2012 /CNW/ - TD Bank Group (TD) announced today that Tim Hockey, Group Head, Canadian Banking, Auto Finance, and Credit Cards, TD Bank Group and President & CEO, TD Canada Trust, intends to exercise up to 62,480 options for TD common shares. Mr. Hockey intends to donate some of the shares he acquires to charity and to sell all of the remaining shares.

The exercise covers approximately 17 per cent of Mr. Hockey's outstanding options. As reported in TD's proxy circular, Mr. Hockey has a share ownership requirement of six times his base salary, which he exceeds by a wide margin.

The options were granted to Mr. Hockey in December 2005 as part of his performance-based compensation. These options will expire in December 2012.

Mr. Hockey made the decision to enter into the plan at this time due to TD's conservative insider trading policies that could prevent him from trading TD shares or exercising options for potentially long periods of time. Under these policies, trading by certain employees is not permitted for at least six weeks prior to each quarterly release. From time to time, particular circumstances arise that further restrict trading and the combined effect can be a blackout for certain individuals for the better part of a year.

Under TD's policies, TD must pre-announce by way of press release Mr. Hockey's intention to conduct any transaction in TD stock, including the exercise of stock options, at least five business days in advance of the date of the transaction. Mr. Hockey has other outstanding options that are approaching expiry in the coming years, and his intention to exercise these options before they expire will also be pre-disclosed in accordance with TD's policies.

The donation is being directed to charities in which Mr. Hockey is personally involved.

About TD Bank Group

The Toronto-Dominion Bank and its subsidiaries are collectively known as TD Bank Group (TD). TD is the sixth largest bank in North America by branches and serves approximately 21.5 million customers in four key businesses operating in a number of locations in key financial centres around the globe: Canadian Personal and Commercial Banking, including TD Canada Trust and TD Auto Finance Canada; Wealth and Insurance, including TD Waterhouse, an investment in TD Ameritrade, and TD Insurance; U.S. Personal and Commercial Banking, including TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, and TD Auto Finance U.S.; and Wholesale Banking, including TD Securities. TD also ranks among the world's leading online financial services firms, with approximately 8 million online customers. TD had CDN$774 billion in assets on January 31, 2012.The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades under the symbol "TD" on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges.