Sunita Somvanshi
If you hold an American Express card, a new federal penalty targets the bank's anti-money laundering program. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) fined American Express National Bank $350 million for weak controls. These rules are meant to stop illegal money from moving through banks. Here is what regulators found and what it could mean for account holders.
The OCC assessed a $350 million civil money penalty against American Express National Bank. The Federal Reserve issued a concurrent cease-and-desist order against American Express Company and American Express Travel Related Services Company. A civil penalty is a fine paid to a regulator, not a criminal charge. Regulators found serious deficiencies in the bank's Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering (BSA/AML) program, including inadequate staffing, weak independent testing and weak training. American Express said in an SEC filing that the penalty does not change its full-year 2026 guidance. Part of the penalty had been reserved in earlier periods, the company said.
The regulators' findings concern the bank's compliance program. The OCC release does not describe changes to card payments. Cardholders who want to know about account changes should check with American Express directly.
Under anti-money laundering rules, banks must know who their customers are and report suspicious transactions to the government. Those reports are called suspicious activity reports (SARs). A consent order is a formal agreement between a regulator and a bank that sets required fixes. The OCC said the bank failed to timely identify and report roughly $13 billion in suspected trade-based money laundering over the past decade. For background on these rules, see Karmactive’s payment-card compliance coverage.
Will American Express cardholders experience service disruptions after the fine? The OCC release describes failures in the bank's compliance program. It does not describe changes to card payments. The company said the costs of meeting the orders' requirements are not expected to affect its 2027 guidance. For more on business card rules, see Karmactive’s banking-regulation coverage.
Regulators fined American Express National Bank $350 million for failures in its anti-money laundering program. The company must meet the requirements in its consent orders. The bank failed to timely report roughly $13 billion in suspected trade-based money laundering over the past decade. Check back for updates.
