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Wed, 14 Oct 2026

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 Bank of America hit with $1.2bn fine for money laundering failings

The bank inadequately flagged transactions linked to potential Chinese money laundering networks, the Treasury said.

* Bank of America has been fined $1.2 billion (£910 million) by the US Treasury Department for failing to detect potential money laundering and other illegal activity.
* The bank failed to report over $5 billion in suspicious activity, with $1 billion posing national security and illicit finance risks.
* The failures included not flagging transactions that may have involved Chinese money laundering networks or trade-based laundering linked to the southwest border.
* Bank of America has admitted to willfully violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to maintain a compliant anti-money laundering program and conduct required due diligence on foreign correspondent accounts.
* As part of the settlement, the bank will pay penalties imposed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
* The OCC's fine of $750 million is the largest penalty it has ever levied, while OFAC's settlement amount of $11.6 million was determined to be non-egregious.
* Bank of America will also incur a non-tax-deductible charge of $1.2 billion in its quarterly earnings report, impacting net income by approximately 17 cents per share.