On October 13, 2026, Bank of America was penalized with over $1.2 billion in fines after regulators found that the bank had not reported more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions, including serious risks related to national security.
The Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network noted that more than $1 billion of the unreported transactions were linked to high-priority issues, such as Chinese money-laundering networks. This penalty is the third-largest in Treasury history and comes just before the bank's quarterly earnings report.
Bank of America admitted to willfully violating the Bank Secrecy Act and acknowledged its shortcomings in maintaining an effective anti-money-laundering program. The bank's stock fell approximately 2% in after-hours trading following the announcement.
The penalties will lead to a non-tax-deductible charge of about 17 cents per share in the third quarter, which the bank claims is already accounted for in its current expenses. The penalties also put pressure on CEO Brian Moynihan, who has been focusing on compliance and responsible growth since taking over in 2010.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency imposed a separate $750 million penalty, marking the largest civil money penalty ever levied by the OCC against a bank. The OCC criticized Bank of America for prioritizing revenue over compliance and failing to address systemic failures in its anti-money-laundering controls.
Moving forward, the bank will be required to undergo independent reviews of its compliance programs and conduct a third-party review of undetected suspicious transactions