The Securities and Exchange Commission slapped Merrill Lynch with a $13 million civil penalty over anti-money laundering failures and for not filing suspicious activity reports.
In its late December complaint, the SEC states that from at least 2011 to 2015, Merrill Lynch had anti-money laundering policies and procedures "that were not reasonably designed to account for the additional risk associated with the additional services offered by certain of its retail brokerage accounts."
During the relevant period, the complaint states, "over $2 trillion in transactions not including the purchase or sale of securities moved through Merrill Lynch brokerage accounts via cash deposits, wires, journal-entry transfers, check writing, ATM withdrawals, cash advances and ACH transfers."
These transactions, the SEC complaint states, "presented money laundering risks, including, but not limited to, structuring currency deposits and withdrawals to avoid cash transaction reporting obligations and other risks associated with cash-intensive activities, such as laundering the proceeds of illegal activity."