Bank of America has been assessed the third largest penalty in treasury history and the largest in The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) history for anti money laundering failures. Bank of America failed to report over $5 billion in suspicious activity to FINCEN.
- OCC has fined Bank of America $750 million for the Bank’s deficient and ineffective BSA/AML (anti-money laundering) compliance program
- U.S. Treasury department has announced $1.2 billion penalty for the Bank’s failure to mitigate and report priority national security risks, including Chinese Money Laundering Networks and illicit finance along the southwest border.
- The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced an $11.6 million settlement agreement with the Bank over apparent violations of numerous sanctions programs, including on Iran, Russia, narcotics, and global terrorism
Secretary Scott Bessent stated that:
“Financial institutions are on the front lines of protecting our economic and national security,”
“When a bank of this size fails to meet its anti-money laundering and sanctions obligations, the consequences extend far beyond its own walls, exposing the entire U.S. financial system to significant illicit finance risks. Today’s actions send a clear message that even the biggest financial institutions are not above the law.”
A Bank of America statement stated that:
“Financial crime compliance is serious, and we are responsible for getting it right,”
“We have invested billions of dollars in technology and dedicated thousands of employees to combat financial crime, and our team is far along with and committed to completing the work required to address the issues raised by our regulators.”
Third quarter results will include a non-tax-deductible charge of $1.2 billion. American Express was recently fined $350 million by The OCC.
