The Treasury Department announced a $1.2 billion penalty against Bank of America on Tuesday for years of failures in its anti-money-laundering program, marking the third-largest penalty in Treasury history. The bank admitted to willfully violating federal laws by failing to report suspicious transactions and maintain adequate safeguards, according to axios.com.
The civil action follows investigations revealing that Bank of America failed to properly monitor trillions of dollars in transactions, resulting in over $5 billion in suspicious activity that was either unreported or reported late. More than $1 billion of this involved potential national security risks, including Chinese money-laundering networks and suspected trade-based money laundering linked to the U.S.-Mexico border. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency also imposed a $750 million civil penalty, the largest in its history, axios.com reported.
This penalty comes less than a week after federal regulators fined American Express $350 million for similar anti-money laundering failures. The enforcement actions highlight increased regulatory scrutiny on major financial institutions to strengthen their compliance programs and prevent illicit financial activities. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent emphasized that the actions demonstrate that even the largest banks are not above the law, according to axios.com.
The Treasury Department's announcement on October 13 included the $1.2 billion penalty and the $750 million civil penalty from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, underscoring the scale of regulatory enforcement against Bank of America.