美国财政部周二下令美国银行支付12亿美元，理由是该公司违反了反洗钱和制裁法。财政部表示，这是财政部历史上第三大罚款。作为该总额的一部分，美国银行被命令向货币监理署支付7.5亿美元，这是货币监理署有史以来处以的最高罚款。财政部长斯科特·贝森特在一份声明中表示：“今天的行动传递了一个明确的信息，即即使是最大的金融机构也不能凌驾于法律之上。”
Bank of America on Tuesday was ordered to pay $1.2 billion to the U.S. Treasury Department after the agency said the company violated anti-money laundering and sanctions laws. The penalty is the third-largest ever in Treasury history, the agency said. As part of that total, the bank was ordered to pay $750 million to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the largest-ever fine levied by the OCC. “Today’s actions send a clear message that even the biggest financial institution are not above the law,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
作为美国第二大银行，美国银行拥有超过7000万客户，每年为个人客户处理约4.5万亿美元的支付。此外，该银行还为企业客户处理450万亿美元的支付，包括工资单、企业信用卡和供应商付款。财政部表示，美国银行“承认其故意违反”了《银行保密法》，并且“未能维持”符合法律最低要求的反洗钱计划。该银行还承认未能提交强制性的可疑活动报告。
As the second-largest bank in the country, Bank of America has more than 70 million clients and processes about $4.5 trillion in payments for individual customers each year. Additionally, the bank handles $450 trillion in payments for corporate customers, including payrolls, corporate credit cards and supplier payments. The Treasury Department said Bank of America “admits that it willfully violated” the Bank Secrecy Act and “failed to maintain” an anti-money laundering program that met minimum requirements under the law. The bank also admitted to having failed to file mandatory Suspicious Activity Reports.
财政部在一份声明中表示：“美国银行未能及时向金融犯罪执法网络（FinCEN）报告超过50亿美元的可疑交易，其中超过10亿美元的活动涉及国家安全相关及其他优先非法金融风险，包括暗示中国洗钱网络的可疑交易、欺诈以及与西南边境有重大关联的潜在基于贸易的洗钱。” 金融犯罪执法网络（FinCEN）的任务是打击全球范围内的洗钱、非法金融活动和恐怖融资网络。
“Bank of America failed to timely report to FinCEN over $5 billion dollars in suspicious transactions, with over $1 billion of this activity implicating national security-related and other priority illicit finance risks, including suspicious transactions indicative of Chinese Money Laundering Networks, fraud, and potential trade-based money laundering with a substantial nexus to the southwest border,” the Treasury Department said in a statement. FinCEN is the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, whose task is to combat money laundering, illicit financial activities and terrorist financing networks around the world.
美国银行在向NBC新闻发表的一份声明中表示：“金融犯罪合规是严肃的，我们有责任把它做对。”
“Financial crime compliance is serious, and we are responsible for getting it right,” Bank of America said in a statement to NBC News.
“我们在技术上投入了数十亿美元，并投入数千名员工来打击金融犯罪，我们的团队在完成监管机构提出的问题所需的工作方面已经取得了很大进展，并致力于完成这些工作。” “我们将继续支持数千起调查中的联邦和地方执法部门，每年报告数十万份可疑活动报告。” 除了FinCEN的违规行为外，财政部表示，美国银行也正在与负责监督广泛美国制裁的外国资产控制办公室（OFAC）就其“可能因475项明显违反多项制裁计划而产生的民事责任”达成和解。
“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.”“We will continue to support federal and local law enforcement across thousands of investigations and report hundreds of thousands of suspicious activity reports each year.”In addition to the FinCEN violations, Treasury said Bank of America is also settling “its potential civil liability for 475 apparent violations of multiple sanctions programs” with the Office of Foreign Assets Control, which oversees sprawling U.S. sanctions.
财政部表示，该公司“显然违反了针对俄罗斯、白俄罗斯、伊朗、缅甸、索马里、毒品和全球恐怖主义的制裁计划，处理了数百万美元的付款。” 贝森特说：“当一家如此规模的银行未能履行其反洗钱和制裁义务时，其后果将远远超出其自身范围，使整个美国金融体系面临重大的非法金融风险。” 美国银行将在周三东部时间早上7:00前不久公布其第三季度财报。
The company “processed millions of dollars in payments in apparent violation of sanctions programs targeting Russia, Belarus, Iran, Burma, Somalia, narcotics, and global terrorism,” Treasury said. “When a bank of this size fails to meet its anti-money laundering and sanctions obligations, the consequences extend far beyond its own walls, exposing the entire U.S. financial system to significant illicit finance risks,” Bessent said. Bank of America will report its third-quarter earnings shortly before 7:00 a.m. ET on Wednesday.