The U.S. Treasury fined Bank of America $1.21 billion for violations of anti-money laundering and sanctions laws, the department announced Oct. 13.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network assessed the penalty for the bank’s failure to mitigate and report priority national security risks, including Chinese money laundering networks and illicit finance along the southwest border, according to the Treasury.
“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 said.
Bank of America is the second-largest bank in the United States and the sixth-largest in the world, according to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), a treasury bureau that regulates and supervises banks and financial institutions.
“Every year, [Bank of America] processes hundreds of trillions of dollars in transactions across the globe,” Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould said in a statement. “It has a high—and increasing—risk profile for money laundering, terrorist financing, and other illicit activities.”
Almost two years ago, the bank signed an order with the agency and committed to fixing problems found in its compliance with the federal Bank Secrecy Act, Gould said.
