Bank of America fined $1.2bn for money-laundering failures - The Guardian

Bank of America (BAC. N), has been fined $1.21bn by US regulators for widespread failures to detect ‌potential money laundering and other illicit activity, a penalty the bank said will hurt third-quarter earnings. The US treasury department said the fine, the third-largest in department history, is due to the bank’s failure to report more than $5bn in suspicious activity to the government, including $1bn that posed national security-related and other priority illicit finance risks. “Financial institutions are on the ​front lines of protecting our economic and national security,” the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said in a statement. “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.”The treasury said the bank “prioritized its revenues” in building compliance programs, and overly relied on inquiries ​from outside parties such as law enforcement and other financial institutions instead of its own internal controls.