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The U.S. Treasury announced more than $1.21 billion in penalties against Bank of America over anti-money-laundering and sanctions violations. The bank admitted willful Bank Secrecy Act violations, while regulators cited missed suspicious activity reports, monitoring failures and deficiencies that persisted after a 2024 OCC order.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced more than $1.21 billion in penalties against Bank of America on Tuesday over anti-money-laundering and sanctions violations, including a $1.2 billion FinCEN fine and an $11.6 million settlement with the Office of Foreign Assets Control. The bank admitted willful violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, while the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency separately imposed a $750 million civil penalty, which Treasury credited toward the FinCEN fine.
FinCEN said Bank of America failed to maintain an anti-money-laundering program that met the Bank Secrecy Act and related regulations, and did not conduct required due diligence for correspondent accounts held for foreign financial institutions. The agency found the bank failed to file suspicious activity reports covering $5 billion in transactions. That figure refers to transactions for which reports were not filed; the announcement does not say the entire amount was illicit or that all transactions involved proven wrongdoing.
The OCC said the bank failed to monitor trillions of dollars in transactions effectively and had known for years that potentially suspicious activity was not being escalated to investigators. It also cited shortcomings in the skills and expertise of the bank’s BSA officer and staff. OFAC’s $11.6 million settlement concerned sanctions violations tied to Iran, Russia, global terrorism and narcotics, according to the Treasury announcement.
The OCC’s $750 million penalty is described as the largest civil monetary penalty in the agency’s 163-year history. Treasury said it would count that penalty toward FinCEN’s $1.2 billion fine, rather than add it on top of that amount. The agencies did not impose an asset cap. Bank of America’s third-quarter results included a non-tax-deductible charge of $1.2 billion, which the bank said reduced net income by about 17 cents per share.
A Major Compliance Enforcement Action
The penalties address weaknesses in controls used to detect and report transactions that may involve money laundering or sanctions evasion. Those systems are intended to help authorities identify potential illicit finance across the banking system. FinCEN’s finding that reports were not filed for transactions totaling $5 billion, and the OCC’s criticism of monitoring and escalation practices, show the scale of the compliance problems regulators identified at one of the country’s largest banks.
The case also highlights consequences when regulators say a bank has not corrected deficiencies after a formal enforcement order. The OCC said Bank of America’s problems continued after its 2024 cease-and-desist order. The penalty is significant for the bank’s finances and reputation, but the absence of an asset cap means regulators did not announce a restriction on the bank’s ability to grow its balance sheet as part of this action.
For customers and investors, the immediate financial effect is reflected in the quarterly charge reported by the bank. The broader implications depend on how quickly regulators determine that required corrective work has been completed, and whether the bank can show that its controls reliably identify and escalate suspicious activity.
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The 2024 Order and Continued Deficiencies
The OCC issued a cease-and-desist order to Bank of America in 2024 over BSA/AML deficiencies. The latest action says the bank did not complete steps needed to establish an effective compliance program after that order. The OCC cited failures to escalate potentially suspicious activity more than a year after the order and said a flaw in transaction monitoring allowed the processing of transactions it described as potential trade-based money laundering.
Bank executives said the institution has invested billions of dollars in technology and personnel to address financial crime risks. CFO Alastair Borthwick said during an earnings media call that the bank had added thousands of people in BSA/AML roles and trained them. He said the bank believed it was meeting its obligations under the consent order, while also declining to estimate what portion of the work was complete or when the order might be lifted.
CEO Brian Moynihan described the action as a settlement and said management’s focus was to complete the work and move forward. He said the bank had sought clarity about the metrics regulators expected. The agency statements and bank’s comments describe different views of progress: regulators said significant deficiencies remained, while executives said substantial corrective work had been completed.
“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.”
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
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Correction Work and Oversight Status
The agencies’ announcement does not specify when the OCC’s 2024 order will be lifted, or what milestones remain before regulators consider the bank’s compliance program effective. Borthwick declined to identify the share of required work completed or forecast a date for lifting the order, though he said the bank believed a substantial amount had been finished.
The public materials cited here also do not provide a transaction-by-transaction account of the $5 billion in activity associated with missing suspicious activity reports. FinCEN’s finding concerns reporting failures; it does not establish that every transaction was criminal. The details of the sanctions-related conduct and any further supervisory steps beyond the announced penalties are not fully set out in the source material.
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Regulators Will Judge Remediation
Bank of America says it will complete the work required by regulators, while the OCC’s order and findings place the bank’s remediation under continued scrutiny. The next key development will be a regulator determination on whether the bank has satisfied the order and established effective BSA/AML controls. The timing is not yet clear: the bank’s CFO said the OCC needed time to complete its review and report, and did not offer a projected date for lifting the order.
Investors will also see the penalty reflected in the bank’s reported results, including the $1.2 billion non-tax-deductible charge. Further information from the bank or regulators could clarify the remaining compliance steps, the standards used to assess progress and whether additional enforcement action is contemplated.
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Key Questions
How much is Bank of America being penalized?
Treasury announced more than $1.21 billion in penalties and settlements. The package includes a $1.2 billion FinCEN fine and an $11.6 million OFAC settlement. The OCC also imposed a $750 million penalty, which Treasury said would be credited toward the FinCEN fine rather than added separately to it.
What did Bank of America admit?
FinCEN said the bank admitted to willful violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, including failures to maintain a compliant AML program and conduct due diligence on certain correspondent accounts for foreign financial institutions.
What does the $5 billion figure refer to?
FinCEN said the bank failed to file suspicious activity reports for transactions totaling $5 billion. The figure describes transactions associated with missing reports; it does not mean regulators found that the full amount was criminal proceeds.
Did regulators restrict the bank’s growth?
No asset cap was imposed as part of the announced action. The OCC did issue a $750 million civil penalty and cited continued compliance deficiencies following its 2024 order.
When will the compliance order be lifted?
No date has been announced. Bank of America’s CFO declined to predict when the OCC might lift its order, and the regulator must assess the bank’s corrective work.
Source: rss
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