From CNBC · Luke Fountain,Kevin Breuninger · · 2m
Bank of America fined $1.2 billion for money-laundering failures
The nation's second-largest bank admitted willfully violating anti-money laundering rules and failing to report over $5 billion in suspicious transactions.
In brief
The nation's second-largest bank admitted willfully violating anti-money laundering rules and failing to report over $5 billion in suspicious transactions. Bank of America was fined one point two billion dollars by the Treasury Department for failing to report more than five billion dollars in suspicious transactions…
Bank of America hit with $1.2 billion penalty
The Treasury Department announced more than one point two billion dollars in penalties against Bank of America on Tuesday for violating anti-money laundering and sanctions laws.
Bank admits failing to report suspicious activity
Bank of America admitted willfully violating Bank Secrecy Act regulations and failing to timely report more than five billion dollars in suspicious transactions, Treasury said.
Over $1 billion involved national security risks
More than one billion dollars of the unreported activity involved national security and other high-priority risks, including Chinese money-laundering networks and activity tied to the southwest border.
Record penalty from Office of Comptroller
Treasury's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency imposed a record seven hundred fifty million dollar civil money penalty against Bank of America, the largest penalty the office has ever levied.
Treasury says bank prioritized revenue
Treasury said Bank of America prioritized its revenues while minimizing the impact on compliance resources and relied so heavily on law-enforcement inquiries that it effectively outsourced detecting suspicious activity.
“prioritized its revenues”
Comptroller calls violations egregious
Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould said the bank's poor response to its compliance deficiencies is unacceptable and the second largest bank's egregious and continued violations warrant the largest penalty ever.
“The bank's poor response to its BSA deficiencies is unacceptable.”
Bank faces independent compliance reviews
Bank of America will be required to conduct a third-party review for suspicious transactions that went undetected and undergo independent reviews of its transaction-monitoring and customer due-diligence programs.
Penalty hits earnings before CEO appearance
Bank of America said the penalties will result in a one point two billion dollar non-tax-deductible charge in its third-quarter results, reducing net income by about seventeen cents per share.
In short
Bank of America was fined one point two billion dollars by the Treasury Department for failing to report more than five billion dollars in suspicious transactions and violating anti-money laundering laws.
