In Other News · United States · Politics

Source: Axios

The Treasury Department on Tuesday announced more than $1.2 billion in penalties against Bank of America for years of failures to report suspicious transactions and address shortcomings in its anti-money-laundering program.Why it matters: The action includes the third-largest penalty in Treasury history.What they're saying: "Today's actions send a clear message that even the biggest financial institutions are not above the law," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a press release.The big picture: The civil action comes less than a week after federal regulators fined American Express $350 million over similar failures to detect and report suspected money laundering.Zoom in: Bank of America admitted to willfully violating federal anti-money-laundering laws — including requirements to maintain adequate safeguards and report suspicious transactions.Regulators said the bank failed to properly monitor trillions of dollars in transactions, resulting in more than $5 billion in suspicious activity that was either unreported or reported late.More than $1 billion involved potential national security and other high-priority risks — including Chinese money-laundering networks and suspected trade-based money laundering linked to the U.S.-Mexico border, regulators said.Of note: The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency also assessed a $750 million civil penalty, the largest in the agency's history.Treasury also announced...