The US Treasury has imposed more than $1.21 billion in fines on Bank of America, the second-largest US bank, over alleged violations of anti-money laundering and sanctions regulations. According to the Treasury, this is one of the third-largest penalties in the agency's history.
The announcement came on Tuesday, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stressing the severity of the case: "When a bank of this size fails to meet its anti-money laundering and sanctions obligations, the consequences extend far beyond the bank itself, exposing the entire US financial system to significant illicit finance risks." He added that the actions "send a clear message that even the largest financial institutions are not above the law."
Enforcement Actions
According to the Treasury, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) imposed a $1.2 billion fine because the bank failed to mitigate and report "priority national security risks, including Chinese money laundering networks and illicit finance activity along the southwest border."
The deficiencies identified by FinCEN related to the bank's suspicious transaction detection and reporting processes as well as its customer due diligence. According to the statement, "the bank outsourced a significant portion of its proactive detection and reporting obligations to third parties." The Treasury said Bank of America failed to timely report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions to FinCEN.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) also imposed a $750 million fine, the largest in its history, for the bank's deficient and ineffective anti-money laundering compliance program. FinCEN's $1.2 billion penalty includes credit for the OCC fine.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also announced an $11.6 million settlement related to apparent violations of multiple sanctions programs, including Iran, Russia, narcotics, and global terrorism. Bank of America agreed to settle 475 apparent violations of multiple sanctions programs, and the settlement includes "significant compliance commitments regarding training, testing, and auditing, as well as future outreach and cooperation with OFAC."
In its statement, the Treasury said the actions "underscore the importance of effective compliance" with US anti-money laundering and sanctions requirements. For its part, Bank of America said: "Compliance with anti-financial crime is a serious matter and we have a responsibility to get it right. We have invested billions of dollars in technology and assigned thousands of employees to fight financial crime, and our team is making progress and is committed to completing the work needed to address the issues raised by regulators."
