American Express National Bank has been fined $350 million by the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency over alleged deficiencies in its anti-money laundering controls. According to the regulator, weaknesses in transaction monitoring and suspicious activity reporting affected approximately $13 billion in potentially suspicious activity between June 2014 and May 2025. The OCC also identified shortcomings in customer identification, staffing, training and internal audits. The enforcement action requires the bank to strengthen its financial crime compliance programme and improve its ability to identify and report suspicious transactions.
American Express Fined $350 Million Over Anti-Money Laundering Failures
US regulators have found systemic compliance deficiencies at American Express National Bank, which failed to properly monitor and report on about $13 billion in suspected money laundering activity over nearly 11 years.
US regulators fined American Express $350 million after finding serious problems in its anti-money laundering controls that led to inadequate monitoring and reporting of about $13 billion in suspected financial crime activity over nearly 11 years.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said American Express National Bank did not have adequate safeguards in place to detect and report suspicious transactions, including potentially illicit activity involving credit cards and charge cards.
The enforcement action, announced Thursday, 8 October 2026, requires the financial institution to improve its financial crime compliance program and improve systems to identify suspicious transactions.
David Hollerith, a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance, said American Express shares fell 2% in after-hours trading Thursday. The stock had fallen more than 16% since the start of 2026.
American Express fined $350 million over compliance failures
The OCC’s enforcement order concerns suspected trade-based money laundering activity that occurred between June 2014 and May 2025, including suspicious card transactions and repayments, the regulator said.
The OCC said some of those transactions were linked to accounts related to bank insiders. However, the order for enforcement did not include the names of the persons involved nor the nature of their transactions.
Trade-based money laundering is the laundering of money through commercial transactions like buying and selling goods. Financial institutions must detect suspicious patterns and report potential illegal activity to the relevant authorities.
American Express National Bank was too focused on risk assessments of its relatively small deposit-taking operations and not enough on the much larger risks of its credit and charge card businesses, the regulator said.
OCC identifies staffing and monitoring weaknesses
The OCC found systemic deficiencies in transaction monitoring, customer identification procedures, and internal controls. The weaknesses impaired the bank’s ability to identify suspicious activity and report the full scope of that activity to law enforcement.
Regulators also identified problems with staffing levels, skills of employees, training, and internal audits. The OCC said the deficiencies allowed compliance issues to go uncorrected for a long period of time.
Comptroller of Currency Jonathan Gould said the bank was unable to provide law enforcement with crucial information. In his statement, he stressed the importance of having effective safeguards to detect and report potentially illicit financial activity.
The results underscore the importance of risk assessments that match the size and complexity of financial institutions’ operations, especially when large card businesses create risks outside the scope of standard deposit-taking activities.
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American Express responds to the $350 million penalty
American Express said internal and external reviews had identified weaknesses in its Financial Crimes Compliance program. The company said that it also looked into transactions in which people misused its products to buy goods and services.
The company said in a statement it had reported the activity identified to law enforcement and taken other appropriate action. American Express agreed to the OCC’s enforcement orders without admitting or denying the findings of the regulator.
The $350 million penalty was largely reserved in previous financial periods and would not impact the company’s full-year financial guidance for 2026, the company said.
American Express also said the consent orders did not include an asset cap. It had not anticipated that the costs of complying with the orders would impact its financial guidance for 2027.
Federal Reserve issues separate enforcement order
In addition to the OCC’s action against American Express National Bank, the Federal Reserve separately issued a cease-and-desist order against American Express.
The enforcement measures require the company to fix compliance deficiencies, enhance suspicious transaction monitoring and bolster oversight of potentially illicit insider activity. In the order, the OCC specifically required American Express National Bank to enhance its anti-money laundering controls.
The case underscores the regulatory fallout from inadequate financial crime controls and the need for strong oversight, employee training, and internal accountability across the banking sector.
“Now American Express has to do what it has to do to improve and at the same time meet the regulatory obligations it already has. Future developments will depend on the company’s efforts to comply and the regulators’ judgment of whether the identified weaknesses were adequately addressed.
Sprouts News will continue to monitor developments in the case and what they mean for financial crime compliance and regulatory oversight in the United States.
