Bank of America has been issued a $1.2bn fine, one of the largest in US history but another example of how regulators are clamping down on anti-money laundering deficiencies relating to high-risk accounts from certain regions.
Bank of America was fined $1.2bn in penalties yesterday (13 October) by US regulators, one of the largest in history.
The US Department of the Treasury announced the bank had violated anti-money laundering (AML) and sanction laws linked to Chinese Money Laundering Networks and illicit finance along the southwest border.
The US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued the $1.2bn penalty for failing to mitigate and report national security risks, while the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued a $750m penalty for breaking the Bank Secrecy Act after finding inefficiencies in complying with its AML rules.
The Office of Foreign Asset Control also hit Bank of America with a $11.6m fine after finding it had violated sanction programmess connecting the bank with processing of potential narcotics trafficking in high-risk countries, such as Iran and Russia.
US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, said: “Financial institutions are on the front lines of protecting our economic and national security.
“When a bank of this size fails to meet its anti-money laundering and sanctions obligations, the consequences extend far beyond its own walls, exposing the entire US financial system to significant illicit finance risks.”
A failure to report suspicious activity
As part of FinCEN’s investigation, Bank of America had admitted it “wilfully violated” the Bank Secrecy Act and failed to maintain an AML programme that conducted effective due diligence reports for correspondent accounts at foreign financial institutions, or file suspicious activity reports.
FinCEN found deficiencies in Bank of America’s suspicious transaction identification, believing “Bank of America prioritised its revenues and minimised the impact on its required compliance resources”.
The bank was also found to have allowed suspicious activity to accumulate for extended periods without investigation, resulting in late reporting.
Bank of America failed to report to FinCEN $5bn dollars in suspicious transactions in a timely manner, with over $1bn of this activity implicating national security-related and other priority illicit finance risks.
This includes suspicious transactions linked to Chinese money laundering networks, fraud, and potential trade-based money laundering originating from the southwest border.
Bank of America was found to have maintained this approach and failed to take meaningful action, even when testing the highlighted problems. Similarly, the Bank’s processes failed to account for customers’ extensive reliance on payments from unknown third parties.
A record US fine, but not the first this year
While the $1.2bn issued to Bank of America is the third-largest penalty in Treasury history and the largest in the OCC’s history, it is not the first high-profile fine this year.
As recently as this week, American Express was fined $350m from the OCC over failing to detect up to $13bn in suspected illegal activity that had passed through the card issuer over an 11-year period.
The OCC has said between June 2014 and May 2025, the bank processed approximately $13bn in suspected trade-related money-laundering activity, consisting of suspicious card spending and related refunds, with some of the transactions passing through accounts linked to the bank’s insiders.
The OCC also cited inadequate resources, inexperienced staff, poor training and shortcomings in internal controls, alongside deficiencies in customer due diligence and identification.
UBS Financial Services were also hit with a fine this year to the tune of $125m in August 2026.
The firm was hit with penalties from FinCEN and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for AML deficiencies dating back to 2018.
UBS was found to have willfully violated the Bank Secrecy Act. The action targeted more than 60,000 foreign-currency wire transfers, totaling $10.5bn, which bypassed automated surveillance.
The company, which has been a common cause for penalties with other actions against Bank of America, was found to have inadequate customer due diligence on high-risk Latin American and Russian accounts.
