US Fines Bank of America $1.2 Billion Over Money Laundering Failures

The U.S. Treasury Department imposed a $1.2 billion penalty on Bank of America on Tuesday for anti-money laundering failures and announced a separate settlement over apparent sanctions violations.

The action against the country’s second-largest bank ranks as Treasury’s third-largest penalty. The department said the bank admitted to willful breaches of the Bank Secrecy Act.

“Today’s actions send a clear message that even the biggest financial institutions are not above the law,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

National Security Risks

Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, said the bank failed to adequately address and report national security risks tied to Chinese money-laundering networks and illicit financial activity along the southwest border.

Bessent said compliance failures at a bank of this scale could expose the wider U.S. financial system to illicit finance risks.

Of the $1.2 billion penalty, $750 million will go to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Treasury described it as the largest fine the banking regulator has imposed.

The Bank Secrecy Act, enacted in 1970, requires financial institutions to help authorities identify and prevent money laundering.

Separate Sanctions Settlement

Bank of America also agreed to pay $11.6 million to resolve a case with Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The apparent violations spanned multiple sanctions programs, including those concerning Iran, Russia, narcotics and global terrorism, Treasury said.

The sanctions settlement is separate from FinCEN’s $1.2 billion penalty.

Bank Cites Compliance Investment

Bank of America linked the resolutions to violations identified in a previously disclosed 2024 OCC consent order and FinCEN’s investigation.

“Financial crime compliance is serious, and we are responsible for getting it right,” the bank said.

It said it had invested billions in technology and assigned thousands of employees to financial crime prevention. The bank added that work to remedy the issues regulators identified was well advanced.

Among Treasury’s Largest Penalties

The penalty falls below Treasury’s roughly $4 billion settlement with cryptocurrency exchange Binance in 2023 and its approximately $3 billion settlement with Canada’s TD Bank in 2024.

Both earlier cases were concluded during the Biden administration’s campaign to strengthen anti-money laundering compliance.