Bank Of America Fined $1.2 Billion For Failing To Report $5 Billion In Suspicious Transactions, Including Chinese Money-Laundering Networks

Most banks spend the night before their earnings call polishing the NII slide and fudging the reserve release calculations. Bank of America will be spending it reading a Treasury press release about itself. Just after the close on Tuesday, Treasury announced more than $1.21 billion in penalties against BofA for violating anti-money-laundering and sanctions laws. Treasury calls it the third-largest penalty in its history, and the OCC calls its piece the largest it has ever handed out. The bank admitted it willfully violated the Bank Secrecy Act. It did not report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions on time,…