The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced penalties against Bank of America for significant and willful violations of anti-money laundering (AML) and sanctions laws. The account describes the total as more than $1.21 billion. It lists a $1.2 billion penalty from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and a record $750 million civil penalty from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). Those listed penalties total $1.95 billion, which does not match the stated total.
Regulators found that the nation’s second-largest bank failed to maintain an effective AML program. The bank did not properly monitor trillions of dollars in transactions. It also failed to report more than $5 billion in suspicious activity. The violations included failures to report transactions linked to Chinese money laundering networks and apparent breaches of sanctions programs related to Russia, Iran and global terrorism.
Bank of America admitted to willfully violating the Bank Secrecy Act. It will record a $1.2 billion non-tax-deductible charge against its third-quarter earnings. The bank said it has invested heavily in improving its compliance programs and is committed to addressing the issues raised by regulators.