WASHINGTON — U.S. bank regulators fined American Express US$350 million after they determined the lender’s programs to identify potential money laundering were insufficient and the company potentially missed billions of dollars in suspicious activity.
The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve announced the enforcement action on Thursday, saying the company, primarily via its national bank, failed to maintain a sufficient anti-money laundering compliance program, including inadequate resources, inexperienced staff, weak training and internal control gaps.
American Express did not admit or deny the regulators’ findings.
The OCC said “systemic breakdowns” in its monitoring and reporting meant the lender failed to identify, evaluate and sufficiently report roughly US$13 billion in suspicious activity over the past decade.
“The OCC expects banks of American Express’s size and complexity to devote sufficient resources to ensure compliance with laws and regulations designed to detect and prevent money laundering, which are critical to both economic and national security,” said Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould in a statement.
The OCC said American Express focused on risks in its relatively narrow deposit products, while not devoting sufficient attention to its much larger credit card business.
The regulator also identified shortcomings in customer due diligence and identification programs.
In a statement, American Express CEO Stephen Squeri said the bank is “fully committed” to addressing the concerns and continuing to improve its compliance.
“While we have made meaningful progress, we know there is more work to do,” he said.
Squeri also said the penalty and the costs of meeting the regulators’ requirements are not expected to affect guidance for 2026 and 2027.
(Reporting by Pete Schroeder and Chris Prentice; Editing by Sonali Paul and Lincoln Feast.)
Pete Schroeder and Chris Prentice, Reuters
