Block, Inc. to pay NYDFS $40M for BSA/AML failings

The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) has announced that Block, Inc. will pay a $40 million penalty for significant failures in its Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering compliance program, which violated DFS money transmitter and virtual currency regulations. In addition to the monetary penalty, Block is required to retain an independent monitor to perform a comprehensive evaluation of its compliance with the Department’s regulations and its remediation efforts.

DFS Superintendent Adrienne A. Harris said, "The rapid growth of Block’s Cash App absent a robust compliance function created risk and vulnerabilities that violated the rules financial services companies operating in New York must adhere to. The Department is taking decisive steps to ensure accountability, including the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee corrective measures.”

Block owns and operates Cash App, a peer-to-peer money transmission service that allows users to send and receive fiat currency. The company has been licensed by the Department to conduct money transmission business in the State of New York since 2013, and virtual currency business through Cash App since 2018.

For more information and a link to the DFS Consent Order, see "Block, Inc. to pay $40M for failures in BSA/AML program," in the BankersOnline Penalty pages.