Bank of America Fined $1.2 Billion FinCEN Penalty After AML Failures

The US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has assessed a $1.2 billion penalty against Bank of America for AML failures involving Chinese money laundering networks and illicit finance along the country’s southwest border.

According to the Treasury Department, the bank failed to report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions in a timely manner. Over $1 billion involved national security and other priority illicit finance risks, including suspected fraud and potential trade-based money laundering. The penalty is the third largest in Treasury history.

As part of its resolution with FinCEN, Bank of America admitted willful violations of the Bank Secrecy Act. These included failing to maintain an adequate AML program, conduct due diligence on correspondent accounts for foreign financial institutions, and file suspicious activity reports.

The Treasury said the bank relied heavily on law enforcement inquiries and referrals from other financial institutions to identify suspicious activity, while weaknesses in its own monitoring left transactions uninvestigated for extended periods. It also failed to act meaningfully on internal warnings.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency separately assessed a $750 million penalty, which is the largest in its history. An additional $11.6 million settlement with the Office of Foreign Assets Control covers 475 apparent sanctions violations, bringing the total to approximately $1.21 billion.

Under the resolution, Bank of America must commission a review of previously undetected suspicious transactions and undergo independent assessments of its monitoring, customer due diligence, foreign correspondent account controls, and AML data governance.