The U.S. Treasury Department and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency fined Bank of America about $1.21 billion on Oct. 13 for willfully violating the Bank Secrecy Act, failing to maintain a compliant anti-money-laundering program and not filing mandatory Suspicious Activity Reports. The OCC's share of $750 million is the largest fine it has ever levied, and the total is the third-largest Treasury penalty on record.
Regulators cited more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions that were not reported on time, over $1 billion of them tied to national-security and other priority illicit-finance risks. The bank also committed 475 apparent violations of sanctions programs covering Russia, Belarus, Iran, Burma and Somalia, as well as narcotics and terrorism programs.
Bank of America said financial crime compliance is serious, that it has invested billions of dollars in technology and thousands of staff, and that it is committed to completing the work its regulators requested. It reports third-quarter earnings on Wednesday.