Bank of America Slapped With $1.2 Billion Penalty Over $5 Billion in Suspicious Transactions

Bank of America's penalties come less than a day before its quarterly earnings.

Bank of America has been hit with more than $1.2bn in federal penalties on Tuesday after US regulators found that the bank failed to report more than $5bn in suspicious transactions and address longstanding weaknesses in its anti-money laundering controls.

More than $1bn of the unreported activity involved national security and other high-priority risks, including Chinese money-laundering networks and activity linked to the US south-western border, the US Treasury Department said.

The penalties come less than a day before the country's second-largest bank is due to report its quarterly earnings on Wednesday.

The Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), which enforces anti-money laundering rules, said the $1.2bn penalty was the third-largest in the department's history. The Treasury also announced a separate $11.6m settlement over sanctions violations.

As part of the settlement, Bank of America admitted that it had wilfully violated the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to maintain a compliant anti-money laundering programme, conduct required due diligence on foreign correspondent accounts and file reports on suspicious activity.

"Today's actions send a clear message that even the biggest financial institutions are not above the law," Treasury Secretary Scott…

Original source: https://www.timesnownews.com/world