Bank of America Hit With Record $1.2B Fine Over AML Compliance Failures
Bank of America faces a record-breaking $1.2 billion penalty from US regulators over compliance failures involving suspicious transactions.
Bank of America Hit With Record $1.2B Fine Over AML Compliance Failures
Bank of America faces a record-breaking $1.2 billion penalty from US regulators over compliance failures involving suspicious transactions.
Regulatory Crackdown on Bank of America
Bank of America has been penalized with a total of $1.2 billion by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. According to Protos, the financial institution admitted to failures within its Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering compliance program, which allowed over $5 billion in suspicious activity to go unreported or delayed.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a $750 million civil money penalty, marking the largest fine ever levied by the bureau. Meanwhile, FinCEN credited this $750 million amount against its own total penalty of $1.2 billion.
Details of the Suspicious Activity
FinCEN outlined that the bank willfully failed to maintain adequate internal controls. This breakdown led to missed reports on roughly $1 billion of activity implicating national security and illicit finance risks, including Chinese money laundering networks.
Investigators noted high volumes of back-to-back credit card purchases at major retailers and shipping companies that did not align with customer profiles. Additionally, the bank processed regular, large-value automated clearing house and bill pay transactions used to settle balances for third-party credit cards, alongside large wire transfers to China lacking clear commercial rationale.
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