Block fined $80 million by US state regulators for alleged BSA and AML rule violations.

16th January 2025
The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) has announced that Block, the San Francisco-based payment solutions provider behind the mobile payment service Cash App, has agreed to pay an $80 million settlement fine to resolve allegations of violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and anti-money laundering (AML) laws. The settlement comes after a review by 48 US state financial regulators, who found that Block’s practices may have compromised efforts to safeguard the financial system from illicit activities.
The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) has announced that Block, the San Francisco-based payment solutions provider behind Cash App, has agreed to pay an $80 million fine to settle allegations of violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and anti-money laundering (AML) regulations. The settlement was reached with 48 US state financial regulators, with leading involvement from regulators in Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, Florida, Maine, Texas, and Washington State. Block has cooperated fully with the regulators throughout the process.

As part of the settlement, Block has agreed to pay the assessed penalty to the state agencies and hire an independent consultant to review the effectiveness and comprehensiveness of its BSA/AML program. Block will submit a report to the states within nine months.

The CSBS stated that, under BSA/AML regulations, financial service firms are required to conduct due diligence on customers, verify identities, report suspicious activities, and apply appropriate controls for high-risk accounts. State regulators found that Block did not fully comply with these requirements, which posed a risk of its services being used for money laundering, terrorism financing, or other illicit activities.

While the settlement does not include an admission of wrongdoing, Block acknowledged the agreement without admitting or denying any violations of applicable laws or regulations governing its money transmission operations.

In a statement to FinTech Futures, a Block spokesperson said, “We’ve reached an agreement with a multi-state group of money transmission regulators led by Arkansas, California, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Texas, and Washington to resolve a previously disclosed matter related to Cash App’s past compliance program.”

Cash App, launched in 2013, offers a range of services for sending, spending, storing, and investing money, and currently has over 50 million users. The spokesperson added, “As Cash App has grown, we’ve significantly increased our investment in compliance and risk management, while continuing to provide millions of customers with critical, affordable financial services. We share our regulators’ commitment to addressing industry challenges and will keep investing across our operations to help foster a safe and healthy fintech ecosystem.”