Bank of America fined $1.21 billion over anti-money laundering failures
US regulators fined Bank of America $1.21 billion over failures to detect and report suspicious activity. Treasury said more than $5 billion went unreported. Shares fell 8% the following day as the bank reported weaker-than-expected revenue and the impact of the penalty.
cnbc.comBank of America hit with more than $1.2 billion in penalties over money-laundering violations
bbc.comBank of America hit with $1.2bn fine for money laundering failings
theguardian.comBank of America fined $1.2bn for money laundering failures
Penalties over compliance failures
US regulators imposed $1.21 billion in penalties on Bank of America for widespread failures to detect potential money laundering and other illicit activity. Treasury described it as the third-largest fine in the department’s history.
Treasury said the bank failed to report more than $5 billion in suspicious activity, including $1 billion that posed national security-related and other priority illicit finance risks. As part of the settlement, the bank admitted it had “willfully violated” the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to maintain a compliant anti-money laundering programme, perform required due diligence on foreign correspondent accounts and file suspicious activity reports, Treasury said.
What regulators found
Treasury accused the bank of prioritizing revenue and relying too heavily on law enforcement inquiries and referrals from other financial institutions rather than its own controls. Unaddressed warning signs included possible narcotics-trafficking proceeds, fraud, Chinese money laundering networks and trade-based laundering, the department said.
The total includes a $750 million penalty from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, its largest ever. The regulator said the bank had failed to correct deficiencies identified in a 2024 cease-and-desist order. A separate $11.6 million sanctions settlement covered 475 apparent violations, which the Office of Foreign Assets Control classified as “non-egregious.”
Required fixes and bank response
Bank of America must hire an independent third party to review past transactions, identify previously undetected suspicious activity and report it to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Treasury also required independent reviews of the bank’s transaction-monitoring and customer due-diligence programmes.
The bank said it had invested billions of dollars in technology and assigned thousands of employees to combat financial crime. A spokesperson said its team was “far along with and committed to completing” the work required by regulators.
