Bank of America fined $1.2 billion over money-laundering violations — SkimNews
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- Bank of America was hit with more than $1.2 billion in federal penalties for failing to report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions over multiple years; more than $1 billion of unreported activity involved national security risks including Chinese money-laundering networks and southwest border activity.
- Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network levied the $1.2 billion penalty — the third-largest in Treasury history — while the OCC separately announced a $750 million civil money penalty (the largest it has ever assessed), credited as part of the total.
- Bank of America admitted it willfully violated the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to maintain a compliant anti-money-laundering program, conduct required due diligence on foreign correspondent accounts, and file suspicious activity reports; Treasury said the bank "prioritized its revenues" while minimizing compliance resources.
- Bank of America said the penalties will result in a $1.2 billion non-tax-deductible Q3 charge reducing net income by about 17 cents per share, and the stock fell roughly 2% in after-hours trading ahead of Wednesday's quarterly earnings.
- The penalties follow a 2024 cease-and-desist order identifying "systemic failure" in BofA's detection and reporting systems; the bank will now undergo third-party review of undetected suspicious transactions and independent reviews of its monitoring and customer due-diligence programs.
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Comptroller Jonathan Gould both issued sharp rebukes — Bessent saying "even the biggest financial institutions are not above the law" and Gould calling the bank's "egregious and continued BSA violations" unacceptable.
- Brian Moynihan, CEO since 2010, is scheduled to appear on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" Wednesday morning just hours after the bank's earnings release — renewing scrutiny of a tenure built on "responsible growth" that began by working through tens of billions in mortgage-related legal matters.
Why it matters: Treasury and the OCC hit Bank of America with $1.2 billion in penalties — including the OCC's largest-ever civil money penalty — for systemic anti-money-laundering breakdowns, with the bank taking a $1.2 billion non-tax-deductible Q3 charge that reduces net income by about 17 cents per share and pushed the shares down roughly 2% after hours just before Wednesday's earnings release.
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