The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced coordinated enforcement actions imposing more than USD 1.21 billion in penalties on Bank of America for anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance failures. The package includes a USD 1.2 billion Financial Crimes Enforcement Network penalty, a USD 750 million Office of the Comptroller of the Currency penalty and an USD 11.6 million Office of Foreign Assets Control settlement. It includes the third-largest penalty in Treasury history and the largest in OCC history. Bank of America admitted to willful Bank Secrecy Act violations, including failures to maintain a compliant AML program, conduct due diligence on foreign correspondent accounts and file suspicious activity reports. The bank failed to report more than USD 5 billion in suspicious transactions on time, including over USD 1 billion linked to priority risks such as Chinese money laundering networks, fraud and potential trade-based money laundering connected to the southwest border. Its transaction monitoring system failed to properly monitor trillions of dollars in transactions, and significant deficiencies persisted after a December 2024 cease-and-desist order. Bank of America must use a third party to identify and report previously undetected suspicious transactions and undergo independent reviews of its transaction monitoring, customer and correspondent due diligence, and AML data governance. The OFAC settlement covers 475 apparent violations involving millions of dollars in payments under sanctions programs targeting Russia, Belarus, Iran, Burma, Somalia, narcotics and global terrorism. Treasury emphasized that financial institutions must integrate AML and sanctions controls, respond promptly to internal warnings and red flags, and not rely on external referrals as a substitute for effective monitoring.
U.S. Department of the Treasury imposes more than USD 1.21 billion in penalties on Bank of America for AML and sanctions failures
The U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed more than USD 1.21 billion in penalties on Bank of America for extensive AML and sanctions compliance failures. The bank failed to report more than USD 5 billion in suspicious transactions on time and processed millions of dollars through 475 apparent sanctions violations. It must conduct a third-party lookback and submit key AML controls and data governance arrangements to independent review.