A former credit trader, Matthew Austin, has initiated a lawsuit against Toronto-Dominion Bank’s US securities arm, seeking to invalidate a one-year non-competition agreement. Austin, who resigned in August, claims the bank violated an explicit promise to allow him to implement a specific algorithmic trading strategy, thereby breaching the terms of his employment agreement which began in February 2024.

According to Austin’s complaint filed on Monday in federal court in New York, he was recruited by Toronto-Dominion with the understanding that he would execute a trading strategy built on “algorithms, models, and alpha signals” through the bank’s sales and trading desk. However, just a week after this strategy was launched in April 2025, over half of the desk personnel were terminated. Austin alleges that the new head of the desk subsequently informed his colleagues of a preference not to utilize the strategy, asserting knowledge of “where the market was headed” and suggesting a lack of team buy-in.

After Toronto-Dominion ceased his strategy in July, Austin contends the bank became evasive regarding his compensation, advising him to simply “trust” management. When Austin broached the subject of resignation, his managers initially seemed keen for him to remain. Nevertheless, they later rejected his proposal to lead his own team for executing his strategy, presenting his employment as a “take it or leave it” ultimatum. Consequently, Austin resigned on August 25.

Following his departure, Toronto-Dominion sought to enforce the non-compete clause, which Austin argues is “overbroad.” He asserts that this enforcement is “restraining him from pursuing his livelihood in the financial industry” and has resulted in “lost income, deferred compensation, health coverage costs and reputational harm.” Austin further emphasizes that each day he remains unemployed, his specialized skill set in quantitative finance—a fast-paced and evolving field—deteriorates.

Matthew Austin brings a substantial professional background to his claims. Before joining Toronto-Dominion, he served as a vice president in credit trading at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. from June 2021 to January 2024. Academically, Austin holds a Harvard Ph.D. in biostatistics and has prior experience at quantitative firms such as AJO Partners, which closed in 2020, and Numeric Investors LLC, acquired by Man Group Plc in 2014. The legal case is officially cited as Austin v TD Securities (USA) LLC, 25-cv-7866, in the US District Court, Southern District of New York.