US sanctions Bank of America over anti-money-laundering failures

Bank of America received three penalties from the US Department of the Treasury on Oct. 13, 2026, over failures in its anti-money-laundering controls and possible violations of economic sanctions. They were imposed by FinCEN (the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network), the OCC (the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates national banks) and OFAC (the Office of Foreign Assets Control).

According to the Treasury, the bank admitted it willfully violated the Bank Secrecy Act. It acknowledged three failures: its anti-money-laundering program did not meet the legal minimums, it did not properly review correspondent accounts of foreign banks, and it did not file suspicious activity reports.

The announcement says the bank failed to report on time suspicious transactions worth more than $5 000 million, and that more than $1 000 million of them involve national security risks. The bank has been under an OCC cease-and-desist order since December 2024.

The numbers do not add up. The Treasury cites "more than $1 210 million" in total, but the three amounts add up to about $1 960 million. The announced figure matches FinCEN plus OFAC, although the Treasury does not say so. El Financiero, citing AP, reports $1 200 million in total.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, according to the announcement, that banks are "on the front lines" of protecting economic and national security. Bank of America responded, according to El Financiero, that financial crimes compliance is a serious matter and that it is working with regulators.

The announcement does not mention the bank's operations in Mexico, although it refers to networks with ties to the US southwest border.