A top Wall Street regulator said it ordered Bank of America to fix a programme that aims to prevent criminals from laundering money through its accounts, after finding deficiencies and “systemic failure” in how the lender handles transactions that appear suspicious.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, or the OCC, said in a cease-and-desist order issued on 23 December that the bank failed to develop and maintain a programme meant to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act.