Federal regulators fined Bank of America $1.2 billion over years of anti-money-laundering compliance failures.
By the numbers: The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network assessed a $1.2 billion fine, crediting a $750 million Office of the Comptroller of the Currency penalty. The OCC called its portion the largest civil money penalty in the agency's history.
- Bank of America is the second-largest U.S. bank and sixth-largest worldwide, according to the OCC. It processes hundreds of trillions of dollars in transactions each year.
- Regulators said deficient monitoring left trillions of dollars inadequately screened and produced late suspicious activity reports involving billions of dollars. Many reports showed signs of money laundering, the OCC said.
The backstory: The bank agreed to a cease-and-desist order in December 2024 that required repairs to its Bank Secrecy Act program. More than a year later, examiners said potentially suspicious activity still was not consistently escalated to investigators.
Between the lines: The OCC cited gaps in trade-based money-laundering monitoring, staff expertise, training and internal audits. It said management minimized significant deficiencies after committing to fix them.
What's next: FinCEN is requiring remedial action, while the $750 million OCC-assessed portion will go to the U.S. Treasury. The bank remains subject to the 2024 order.
Why it matters: A record penalty against a systemically important bank signals higher compliance costs and closer scrutiny for institutions handling cross-border payments, sanctions exposure and suspicious transactions.
