ENBANK COMPLIANCE & COUNTERPARTY RISK · OCTOBER 14, 2026
OCC Imposes Record $750 Million BSA/AML Penalty on Bank of America
The OCC announced its largest-ever civil money penalty against a bank, citing continued Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money-laundering program deficiencies at Bank of America.
What the OCC announced
Source publication date: October 13, 2026. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced a $750 million civil money penalty against Bank of America, N.A. for violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and implementing regulations. The OCC described the amount as the largest civil money penalty in its history and noted that a December 2024 cease-and-desist order already required remediation.
- 01Largest OCC bank penalty
- 02Monitoring and reporting failures cited
- 03Complete KYC records reduce friction
The findings focused on program execution
According to the OCC, the bank's transaction-monitoring system failed to properly monitor trillions of dollars in transactions, resulting in large numbers of late suspicious activity reports involving billions of dollars. The agency also cited insufficient expertise and training, ineffective internal controls, weak audit performance, and incomplete remediation after the earlier order. These are the OCC's regulatory findings regarding one institution.
Treasury agencies coordinated the action
The OCC stated that FinCEN was assessing a $1.2 billion penalty that credits the OCC's $750 million assessment and requires remedial action. The coordinated enforcement illustrates the scale of operational and compliance risk attached to customer identification, transaction monitoring, investigation, escalation, and reporting at regulated financial institutions.
Practical borrower and investor takeaway
Maintain accurate legal names, entity and beneficial-ownership records, tax identification, addresses, organizational documents, source-of-funds evidence, transaction explanations, and counterparty records. Reconcile loan proceeds to the stated use and flag international transfers, cash activity, unusual payment routing, or ownership changes early. Compliance review is separate from credit approval, but incomplete or inconsistent records can delay onboarding, closing, funding, or ongoing account activity.
Borrowers and investors should expect banks to scrutinize ownership, beneficial owners, source and use of funds, transaction patterns, counterparties, and supporting records—and should resolve inconsistencies before diligence begins.
Discuss a financing need →This independent summary is based on the cited source and is provided for general educational purposes only. Terms and program requirements may change.