OCC Fines American Express Bank $350 Million Over AML Failures
Federal regulators hit American Express National Bank with a $350M penalty and cease-and-desist order for anti-money laundering compliance failures.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency levied a $350 million civil money penalty against American Express National Bank on Monday and issued a cease-and-desist order targeting the Utah-based institution over serious deficiencies in its compliance framework.
Regulators cited failures within the bank's Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering program as the basis for both the financial sanction and the formal enforcement order. The cease-and-desist directive compels the bank to address identified shortcomings under federal oversight, a step regulators typically reserve for significant or persistent compliance breakdowns.
Read more Fed Takes Enforcement Action Against American Express Over Money Laundering Lapses →
American Express National Bank, headquartered in Sandy, Utah, operates as the federally chartered banking arm of the broader American Express enterprise. The OCC's action places the institution under heightened regulatory scrutiny and requires remediation of the AML program gaps that examiners identified during their review.
The penalty ranks among the more substantial BSA-related enforcement actions in recent months and underscores the OCC's continued emphasis on financial institutions maintaining robust safeguards against illicit money flows. Banks found lacking in BSA and AML controls face not only financial penalties but also reputational and operational consequences tied to cease-and-desist requirements.
Continue reading at OCC News.
