US Treasury’s financial-crimes watchdog identifies major anti-money laundering failures, weaknesses in transaction-monitoring technology and missed warnings involving Chinese money-laundering networks, fraud and cross-border illicit finance.
The US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, has issued a civil enforcement consent order against Bank of America, citing serious deficiencies in the bank’s anti-money laundering (AML) controls and compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).
The order imposes a civil money penalty of $1.2 billion. After crediting the $750 million penalty imposed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), it requires Bank of America to pay $450 million to the US Department of the Treasury within ten days of the effective date.
The bank failed to effectively monitor suspicious transactions, investigate alerts promptly, file Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) on time, properly calibrate its risk-scoring system, monitor certain financial products, conduct adequate due diligence on high-risk customers, respond appropriately to internal and external compliance warnings, and maintain effective anti-money laundering (AML) controls and oversight.
The bank overly relied on inquiries from outside parties like law enforcement and other financial institutions instead of its own internal controls.
Source: FinCEN consent order, 13 October 2026
