BANK OF AMERICA TAKES $1.2 BILLION COMPLIANCE HIT

Bank of America absorbed a $1.2 billion civil penalty in its third-quarter earnings after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and FinCEN ordered the bank to settle lapses in its Bank Secrecy Act, anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance programs. The charge, disclosed in the October 14 results, cut diluted earnings per share by $0.17, pulling reported earnings on $BAC down to $0.91 a share from an underlying $1.08. Net income still landed at $6.9 billion on $30 billion in revenue, as trading and lending absorbed the one-time blow. The fine closes one regulatory chapter, but the bank now reports under two fresh consent orders.