Bank of America

Bank of America provides critical financial services that enable fossil fuel expansion, including lending, underwriting, and project financing for oil, gas, and coal operations. According to a 2023 report titled "Complicit: Bank of America, Human Rights, and Fossil Fuel Expansion," the bank's financing drives climate impacts and associated human rights violations. In February 2024, Bank of America weakened its energy policy, removing explicit bans on financing new coal mines, coal-fired power plants, and Arctic drilling projects that it had established two years prior. This reversal aligns with its departure from the "Equator Principles," a set of environmental and social risk management standards for project finance. The bank's continued provision of capital and advisory services to fossil fuel companies constitutes a foundational ancillary service to the industry.

Bank of America has paid approximately $87.3 billion in fines and settlements since 2000 across 330 enforcement records (Violation Tracker / Good Jobs First), spanning mortgage fraud, securities violations, and consumer protection failures. Major actions include $16.65B DOJ settlement (2014) for mortgage-backed securities fraud, $6B+ in additional MBS-related settlements, and ongoing enforcement. Bank of America ranks among the most-penalized financial institutions in US history by cumulative penalty volume.