{
  "id": 14357520,
  "title": "Bank of America hit with $1.2bn fine for money laundering failings",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/14/bank-of-america-hit-with-1-2bn-fine-for-money-laundering-failings",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-10-14T02:55:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "MyJoyOnline Ghana",
    "slug": "myjoyonline-ghana",
    "url": "https://www.myjoyonline.com/bank-of-america-hit-with-1-2bn-fine-for-money-laundering-failings/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The US Treasury Department has levied a $1.2 billion fine against Bank of America for failing to detect potential money laundering and other illicit activities, according to a report on Tuesday. Over $5 billion in suspicious transactions were not reported to authorities, with $1 billion posing significant risks to national security and illicit finance, the Treasury revealed. The bank's shortcomings included not identifying transactions that possibly involved Chinese money laundering networks or trade-based laundering with a strong connection to the southwestern border.\n\nBank of America assured that their team is actively working to address the issues raised by regulators. The fine, the third-largest ever imposed by the department, came less than 24 hours before the bank was set to reveal its quarterly earnings. The company stated that the $1.2 billion charge would be non-tax-deductible and would impact net income by approximately 17 cents per share. Bank of America emphasized that they have already allocated significant personnel and resources to their ongoing remediation efforts.\n\nThe Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, emphasized the impact of the bank's failure to meet anti-money laundering and sanctions obligations, stating that it endangers the entire US financial system by exposing it to substantial illicit finance risks. The Treasury alleged that Bank of America relied too heavily on inquiries from external parties, such as law enforcement and other financial institutions, rather than its own internal controls, effectively outsourcing a considerable portion of its proactive detection and reporting responsibilities.\n\nAs part of the settlement, Bank of America admitted to willfully violating the Bank Secrecy Act by not maintaining a compliant anti-money laundering program, conducting required due diligence on foreign correspondent accounts, and filing suspicious activity reports. The $1.2 billion fine included penalties from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The OCC imposed a $750 billion fine, marking its largest penalty ever levied, while OFAC tied its settlement to 475 apparent violations of sanctions programs, including those targeting Russia, Iran, narcotics, and global terrorism. The OFAC settlement amount of $11.6 million indicated that the bank's non-egregious violations were deemed less severe.",
  "summary": "Bank of America has been fined $1.2bn (£910m) for failing to detect potential money laundering and other illegal activity, the US Treasury Department said on Tuesday. The banking giant failed to report over $5bn in suspicious activity to the government, $1bn of which posed national security and illicit finance risks, the Treasury said. Those failures […]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 7,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "ABC News AU",
        "title": "Live: Bank of America fined $US1.2 billion for anti-money laundering failures",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/13/live-bank-of-america-fined-us1-2-billion-for-anti-money-laundering",
        "published": "2026-10-13T21:13:09.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "ABC News (US)",
        "title": "US hits Bank of America with $1.2 billion fine, saying it violated money laundering, sanctions laws",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/13/us-hits-bank-of-america-with-1-2-billion-fine-saying-it-violated",
        "published": "2026-10-13T21:17:53.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "The National UAE",
        "title": "Bank of America fined $1.2bn over claimed sanctions breaches",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/13/bank-of-america-fined-1-2bn-over-claimed-sanctions-breaches",
        "published": "2026-10-13T21:18:53.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "BBC World",
        "title": "Bank of America hit with $1.2bn fine for money laundering failings",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/14/bank-of-america-hit-with-1-2bn-fine-for-money-laundering-failings-14367521",
        "published": "2026-10-14T02:05:32.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Gulf News",
        "title": "US hits Bank of America with $1.2 billion fine, saying it violated money laundering, sanctions laws",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/14/us-hits-bank-of-america-with-1-2-billion-fine-saying-it-violated",
        "published": "2026-10-14T02:51:06.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "KahawaTungu",
        "title": "Bank of America hit with $1.2bn fine for money laundering failings",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/14/bank-of-america-hit-with-1-2bn-fine-for-money-laundering-failings-14358562",
        "published": "2026-10-14T03:01:46.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}