The U.S. Treasury Department has imposed fines and financial settlements totaling $1.2 billion on Bank of America over violations related to anti-money laundering laws and U.S. sanctions, marking one of the largest financial penalties imposed by the department on a banking institution.
The penalty against the second-largest bank in the United States ranks among the biggest in the Treasury Department’s history. It follows a $3.4 billion penalty against cryptocurrency exchange Binance in 2023 and a $1.3 billion penalty against TD Bank in 2024, according to the report.
Scott Bessent: No One Is Above the Law
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that a bank of Bank of America’s size failing to meet its anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance obligations poses significant risks to the U.S. financial system.
He stressed that major financial institutions are not above the law and said the enforcement actions were intended to send a clear message about the importance of complying with banking regulations and preventing the financial system from being used for illicit activities.
Suspicious Transactions Exceeding $5 Billion
The Treasury Department said the bank failed to report suspicious transactions in a timely manner, involving a total value exceeding $5 billion.
More than $1 billion of those transactions were linked to national security risks, including Chinese money-laundering networks and illicit financial activities along the U.S. southwestern border.
According to the report, Bank of America admitted, as part of a settlement with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), to willfully violating the Bank Secrecy Act and failing to report suspicious activity.
Settlement Over U.S. Sanctions Violations
Bank of America also reached an $11.6 million settlement with the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) over 475 apparent violations of several U.S. sanctions programs, including measures targeting Iran, Russia, drug trafficking, and global terrorism.
OFAC classified the violations as non-egregious but did not grant the bank a reduction in the base penalty, according to the report.
Separately, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) imposed a $750 million civil money penalty, described in the report as the largest in the agency’s history. That amount is included in the overall financial penalties.
New Regulatory Measures Target the Bank
The enforcement actions follow deficiencies identified by the OCC in 2023. In December 2024, the agency issued an order requiring Bank of America to strengthen its anti-money laundering program.
Under the latest measures, the bank must engage an independent third party to review suspicious transactions that had not previously been detected, as regulators seek to strengthen oversight of financial operations and compliance with U.S. rules.
Penalty Comes Ahead of Quarterly Earnings
The measures were announced less than a week after American Express was fined $350 million over similar failures and shortly before Bank of America was scheduled to report its third-quarter financial results.
The penalties highlight increased U.S. regulatory scrutiny of financial institutions, particularly regarding the timely reporting of suspicious transactions and compliance with sanctions imposed on targeted countries and entities.
