Arabic version: تغريم بنك أوف أميركا 1.2 مليار دولار بسبب إخفاقات في مكافحة غسل الأموال

According to BBC News, Bank of America has been fined $1.2bn (£910m) by the US Treasury Department for failing to detect potential money laundering and other illegal activity.

The Treasury said the bank did not report more than $5bn in suspicious activity to the government, including $1bn that posed national-security and illicit-finance risks. The failures included transactions that may have involved Chinese money-laundering networks or trade-based laundering with a substantial nexus to the southwest border.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said a bank of this size failing to meet anti-money-laundering and sanctions obligations exposed the wider US financial system to significant illicit-finance risks. The department said Bank of America relied too heavily on inquiries from law enforcement and other financial institutions, rather than its own internal controls.

As part of the settlement, the bank admitted it willfully violated the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to maintain a compliant anti-money-laundering programme, carry out required due diligence on foreign correspondent accounts and file suspicious-activity reports. The fine includes penalties imposed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

OFAC said its settlement related to 475 apparent violations of sanctions programmes involving Russia, Iran, narcotics and global terrorism. Bank of America said it was committed to completing work required to address regulators’ concerns. It said its third-quarter results would include a non-tax-deductible $1.2bn charge, reducing net income by about 17 cents per share.