U.S. Regulators Impose More Than $1.2 Billion in Bank of America AML Penalties
On October 13, 2026, the U.S. Treasury and federal banking regulators announced more than $1.21 billion in combined penalties against Bank of America for willful Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money-laundering deficiencies, including failure to timely report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions. The reported activity included transactions potentially linked to Chinese money-laundering networks and other priority illicit-finance risks. The action requires a third-party lookback and independent reviews of the bank’s suspicious-activity monitoring, customer due diligence, foreign-correspondent-account due diligence, and related data governance.
Official Treasury material and multiple contemporaneous reports support a new federal enforcement action announced on October 13, 2026. Bank of America admitted willful Bank Secrecy Act violations and failed to timely report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions; the consent order also requires a third-party lookback and independent reviews of its AML controls. The supplied $1.8 billion headline conflicts with the more detailed $1.2 billion and more-than-$1.21 billion accounts. Because the OCC penalty is credited against the FinCEN assessment and a separate OFAC settlement brings the combined total above $1.21 billion, the final description uses the better-supported combined figure rather than $1.8 billion. The exact announcement time is not stated, so 20:15 UTC is an estimate based on the earliest contemporaneous reporting. Bank of America is directly affected; NICE and FTI Consulting are approved only as plausible remediation-demand beneficiaries with an explicit causal channel, while broader peer and vendor impacts are too indirect for inclusion.
Bank Of America Fined $1.2 Billion For Failing To Report $5 Billion In Suspicious Transactions, Including Chinese Money-Laundering Networks https://t.co/kM2rnhuoRk
Federal regulators said the bank had waved through suspicious transactions without proper care.
Bank of America was fined more than $1.21 billion for money laundering and sanctions violations by US regulators.