Despite the federal government's push toward deregulation and reduced regulatory burdens, it once again proved that enforcement of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) remains a significant priority. On Oct. 13, 2026, Bank of America (BOA) was hit with more than $1.2 billion in penalties for BSA compliance failures. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) assessed a $1.2 billion penalty, while the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) assessed a $750 million penalty and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced an $11.6 million settlement. The actions represent one of the largest BSA-related enforcement actions ever.

According to the order, BOA willfully violated the BSA by failing to maintain an effective compliance program, conduct adequate customer due diligence and timely report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions. More than $1 billion of the activity involved significant illicit financing, including Chinese money laundering networks, potential narcotics trafficking, fraud and trade-based money laundering. Longstanding deficiencies were identified in transaction monitoring, inadequate compliance staffing and training, ineffective independent audits and management's failure to correct known weaknesses. BOA also relied excessively on law enforcement inquiries and other external referrals rather than its own monitoring systems to identify suspicious activity.

Key Takeaways

One of many takeaways is that regulatory relief does not mean reduced expectations for BSA compliance. While FinCEN and other federal agencies have articulated a willingness to reconsider some burdensome compliance requirements, it continues to aggressively pursue financial institutions that fail to identify, investigate and report significant suspicious activity. It is important for financial institutions to ensure BSA programs are appropriately risk-based and have effective transaction monitoring systems, plus promptly investigates suspicious activity and corrects identified weaknesses. Federal regulators may be taking steps to help reduce some compliance burdens, but they are not abandoning enforcement for significant BSA violations. 

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