Key facts
- Bank of America fined $1.21 billion by US government for anti-money laundering and sanctions failures.
- Treasury Department cited failure to report over $5 billion in suspicious activity.
- Includes $1 billion in activity posing national security risks.
- Office of the Comptroller of the Currency imposed a $750 million penalty.
- Office of Foreign Assets Control fined $11.6 million for over 400 sanctions violations.
- Bank will take a $1.2 billion charge in third-quarter results.
Bank of America has been fined $1.21 billion by the U.S. government for widespread failures to properly police potential money laundering and other illicit activity. The Treasury Department stated the fine, the third-largest in its history, is due to the bank's failure to report over $5 billion in suspicious activity, including $1 billion that posed national security-related and other priority illicit finance risks.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement that when a bank of Bank of America's size fails to meet its anti-money laundering and sanctions obligations, the consequences expose the entire U.S. financial system to significant illicit finance risks. The Treasury noted that the bank prioritized revenues in building compliance programs and overly relied on inquiries from outside parties instead of its own internal controls.
A Bank of America spokesperson acknowledged the seriousness of financial crime compliance and stated the bank has invested billions of dollars in technology and thousands of employees to combat financial crime. The spokesperson added that the bank is committed to addressing the issues raised by regulators.
The bank's third-quarter results will include a non-tax-deductible charge of $1.2 billion, reducing quarterly net income by approximately 17 cents per share.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency imposed a $750 million civil penalty, the largest ever for the regulator, citing failures to address shortcomings in its anti-money laundering programs identified in a 2024 cease-and-desist order. The regulator described the bank's compliance program as deficient and ineffective, and its transaction monitoring system caused delays in filing suspicious activity reports on billions of dollars in transactions.
Additionally, the bank paid an $11.6 million fine to the Office of Foreign Assets Control for over 400 apparent violations of numerous sanctions programs, including mistakenly processing millions of dollars in payments that violated sanctions targeting countries such as Russia and Iran.