OCC - Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

OCC Fines American Express $350M for AML Compliance Failures The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has imposed a $350 million civil money penalty on American Express National Bank for deficiencies in its Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and anti-money laundering (AML) compliance program. The bank failed to adequately monitor and report approximately $13 billion in suspected trade-based money laundering activities over the past decade. The OCC cited inadequate resources, weak internal controls, and ineffective risk assessments as key issues. This penalty, coordinated with a cease-and-desist order by the Federal Reserve, underscores the need for American Express to address these compliance failures.