Bank of America controversies

Company response

• Clarification — Bank of America

  the financial giant acknowledged serious anti-money laundering (AML) compliance failures

• Remediation — Bank of America

  Bank of America must now undergo an independent review of previously overlooked suspicious transactions

• Clarification — Bank of America

  We worked with regulators to reach these penalty resolutions stemming from violations cited in the previously reported 2024 (Comptroller of the Currency) Consent Order

• Remediation — Bank of America

  We have invested billions of dollars in technology and dedicated thousands of employees to combat financial crime, and our team is far along with and committed to completing the work required to address the issues raised by our regulators.

Source excerpt

• The settlement sparked criticism from Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ), who questioned why no bank executives faced criminal charges.

• Bank of America must now undergo an independent review of previously overlooked suspicious transactions

• Unlike Binance's criminal case, Bank of America's penalties were imposed by three Treasury agencies through civil enforcement actions.

Company response

• Remediation — Bank of America

  We put on 1,000 contractors to help us do the patching work in the second quarter, and those people remain here today, helping us, on top of the 3,000 people we have in that area,

Source excerpt

• The bank spent a "couple hundred million plus" on the software remediation and regulatory issues related to anti-money laundering compliance in the third quarter, Moynihan told analysts earlier Wednesday.

• Bank of America has hired an army of external contractors to help it patch software vulnerabilities exposed by advanced artificial intelligence models including Anthropic's Mythos , the bank's CEO, Brian Moynihan , told CNBC on Wednesday.

• Bank of America added 1,000 third-party consultants to support 3,000 internal staff in patching proprietary and vendor software flaws exposed by Anthropic's Mythos.

Company response

• Remediation — Bank of America

  The bank said it had invested billions of dollars in technology and dedicated thousands of employees to combating financial crime, adding that its team was “far along with and committed to completing the work required to address the issues raised by our regulators”.

Source excerpt

• Bank of America, the second-largest US bank, failed to promptly report hundreds of millions of dollars in suspicious transactions bearing signs of Chinese money-laundering networks, US regulators said on Tuesday, announcing more than US$1.21 billion in penalties for broader anti-money-laundering and sanctions failures.

• The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, said the activity included large wire transfers to counterparties in China, repeated credit-card purchases at major retailers and shipping companies, and payments towards cards held by third parties without an apparent commercial purpose.

• Bank of America admitted the facts and violations set out in the FinCEN order to resolve the case, including wilful failures to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act. The order describes the underlying transactions as suspicious and does not establish that every payment involved criminal proceeds.

Company response

• Investigation — Bank of America

  when fraudulent transactions occur on benefit cards we review those claims

• Remediation — Bank of America

  we review those claims and restore money to legitimate recipients

Source excerpt

• A lawsuit has been filed in Northern California federal court against Bank of America for its role in the massive fraud that has plagued the Employment Development Department.

• we review those claims and restore money to legitimate recipients

• But the plaintiff says Bank of America does bear some responsibility and accuses the banking giant of failing to institute standard security measures like debit card chips to guard against fraud.

Source excerpt

• The amendment filed Monday in Hampton County Courthouse adds Bank of America as a defendant, calling it “the bank of a money launderer,” and accuses Alex Murdaugh of paying Curtis “Eddie” Smith, his alleged shooter, more than $1.8 million from fake accounts since 2015.

Source excerpt

• 周二在曼哈顿联邦法院提起的集体诉讼称，这些银行自2006年8月以来违反了反垄断法，在“零股”交易中向投资者收取过高费用。

• 摩根大通和美国银行在内的10家全球最大银行，于当地周二在曼哈顿联邦法院被起诉，因其涉嫌在近14年时间里串谋操纵9.6万亿美元公司债市场的价格，令普通投资者损失数十亿美元。

Company response

• Denial — BlackRock

  Financial firms investing in them also denied wrongdoing.

• Clarification — BlackRock

  We engage with companies on these and other ESG (environmental, social and governance) risks, and where they are not being appropriately managed or progress is not sufficient, we (as shareholders) take voting action against management

Source excerpt

• Financial firms investing in them also denied wrongdoing.

• We engage with companies on these and other ESG (environmental, social and governance) risks, and where they are not being appropriately managed or progress is not sufficient, we (as shareholders) take voting action against management

• Major US financial firms are helping fund environmental destruction and indigenous rights abuses in the Amazon with billions of dollars in investments in questionable companies, according to a report published on Tuesday.

Source excerpt

• “There’s been misunderstanding around our position, but we have not historically participated in project finance for oil and gas exploration in the Arctic,” Larry Di Rita, the bank’s head of public policy and strategy in Washington, said Monday in an interview.

• “But given that misinterpretation, we’ve determined that it’s time to codify our existing practice into policy.”

• Earlier this month, the Sierra Club singled out Bank of America as “the only major U.S. bank not to rule out financing for the destruction of the Arctic refuge” after its five biggest competitors updated their policies this year.

Source excerpt

• 因美国银行(Bank of America)未能免除某些账户的共同基金销售费用（对超过1.3万名共同基金客户过度收费），美国金融业监管局(FINRA)对其处以723万美元的罚款。