TORONTO, Sept. 21 /CNW/ - TD Bank Financial Group (TDBFG) announced today that Ed Clark, President and CEO, will enact an automatic plan to exercise up to 613,500 options for TD common shares. Mr. Clark intends to donate 35,000 of the shares he acquires to charity and to hold all of the remaining shares, net only of the number of shares needed to generate cash sufficient to cover exercise costs and taxes.

The options were granted to Mr. Clark in December 2002 as part of his performance-based compensation. These options will expire in December 2012.

The plan covers 27 percent of Mr. Clark's outstanding options. As reported in TD's proxy circular, Mr. Clark has a share ownership requirement of 10 times his base salary which he exceeds by a wide margin.

Mr. Clark made the decision to enter into the plan at this time due to TD's conservative trading policies that could prevent him from trading TD shares or exercising options for potentially long periods of time. Under these policies, trading 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 and applicable securities rules, TD is required to announce by way of press release Mr. Clark's intention to conduct any transaction in TD stock, including the exercise of stock options and his intention to enter into an automatic plan. Mr. Clark 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.

Mr. Clark's donation will be administered by the Private Giving Foundation, a donor-advised endowment created by TD Waterhouse to encourage charitable giving in Canada. The donation is being directed to charities that Mr. Clark has been personally involved with for many years.

More information about the Private Giving Foundation can be found at www.tdwaterhouse.ca/privategiving.

About TD Bank Financial Group

The Toronto-Dominion Bank and its subsidiaries are collectively known as TD Bank Financial Group. TD Bank Financial Group is the sixth largest bank in North America by branches and serves more than 18 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 Insurance; Wealth Management, including TD Waterhouse and an investment in TD Ameritrade; U.S. Personal and Commercial Banking, including TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank; and Wholesale Banking, including TD Securities. TD Bank Financial Group also ranks among the world's leading online financial services firms, with more than 6 million online customers. TD Bank Financial Group had CDN$603 billion in assets on July 31, 2010. The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades under the symbol "TD" on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges.