Bank of America hit with $1.2bn fine for money laundering failings
Bank of America has been fined $1.2 billion by the US Treasury for failing to detect and report over $5 billion in suspicious transactions, including potential money laundering. The bank admitted to relying too heavily on third-party inquiries rather than internal controls, and the fine will impact its upcoming quarterly earnings.
Why it matters
This significant penalty underscores the regulatory pressure on major financial institutions to maintain robust anti-money laundering protocols to prevent illicit finance.
Image source, Bloomberg via Getty Images By Peter Hoskins Business reporter Published 55 minutes ago Bank of America has been fined $1.2bn (£910m) for failing to detect potential money laundering and other illegal activity, the US Treasury Department said on Tuesday.
The banking giant failed to report over $5bn in suspicious activity to the government, $1bn of which posed national security and illicit finance risks, the Treasury said.
Those failures included not flagging transactions that possibly involved Chinese money laundering networks or trade-based laundering "with a substantial nexus to the southwest border", according to the Treasury.
"Our team is far along with and committed to completing the work required to address the issues raised by our regulators," Bank of America told the BBC.
The announcement came less 24 hours before Bank of America was due to announce its quarterly earnings on Wednesday morning.
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