WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Department said Tuesday that it’s imposing $1.2 billion in fines on Bank of America for allegedly violating anti-money laundering and sanctions laws.
The fines on America’s second-biggest bank amount to the third-largest in the department’s history.
“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,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “Today’s actions send a clear message that even the biggest financial institutions are not above the law.”
Not making excuses, but gross profit doesn’t account for a bunch of other business expenses. Yearly net profit is more like $30B. That makes the fine ~4%.
The profits are still criminally high and the fine is criminally low, but it should be compared to net.
If directors were jailed then we would see some action. As it is it’s a business expense.
I think that the fine should represent the actual profit over the lifetime of the offence with a penalty surcharge.
That way the fine represents “crime doesn’t pay”, rather than “crime penalties are a rounding error”.