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The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ordered American Express National Bank to pay a $350 million civil penalty and issued a cease-and-desist order over deficiencies in its anti-money-laundering program. The Federal Reserve separately issued an enforcement action naming American Express Company and American Express Travel Related Services Company. AmEx CEO Stephen Squeri said the company has been working with regulators and law enforcement and acknowledged further work remains.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has ordered American Express National Bank to pay a $350 million civil penalty and issued a cease-and-desist order, saying the bank failed to maintain an adequate anti-money-laundering compliance program. On the same day, the Federal Reserve issued a separate enforcement action against American Express Company and American Express Travel Related Services Company over weaknesses in detecting and reporting suspicious activity.
The OCC said its findings included insufficient resources for the bank’s Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money-laundering program, risk assessments that were not adequately tailored to the bank’s activities, and systemic breakdowns in suspicious-activity monitoring and reporting. The agency announced both the penalty and the cease-and-desist order in an October 8 release. The source material does not specify how the $350 million figure is divided among the identified shortcomings.
The Federal Reserve’s action is separate from the OCC’s penalty. The Fed said its action addresses the company’s failure to sufficiently detect and report suspected money laundering and deficiencies in the implementation of its enterprise-wide AML program. The order names American Express Company and American Express Travel Related Services Company; the supplied reporting does not describe a separate Fed fine.
American Express said the regulators’ reviews had been disclosed previously. Chairman and CEO Stephen J. Squeri said the company has spent recent years working with regulators to strengthen controls and with law enforcement to provide information about transactions in which individuals misused its products. His statement acknowledged progress but said additional work is needed.
How the Orders Affect AmEx Compliance
The actions place the company’s financial-crime controls under formal regulatory orders, rather than leaving the concerns as routine supervisory feedback. The OCC’s penalty is a direct financial consequence for American Express National Bank, while the cease-and-desist orders require the named entities to address the regulators’ concerns. The supplied material does not give the orders’ detailed requirements or deadlines.
Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money-laundering systems are intended to help financial institutions identify and report transactions that may involve illicit funds. Weaknesses in risk assessment, staffing, monitoring or reporting can limit regulators’ and law enforcement agencies’ ability to identify suspicious activity. The OCC tied compliance at banks of American Express’s size and complexity to the detection and prevention of money laundering, which it described as important to economic and national security.
For customers and business partners, the announcements raise questions about how the company will remediate the issues and whether that work will affect its monitoring and reporting processes. The source material does not establish that specific customers were harmed, or that all transactions involving the company were affected. The confirmed development is regulatory action over program deficiencies, not a finding that every flagged transaction involved crime.
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Separate OCC and Fed Actions
The two actions announced on October 8, 2026, address related compliance concerns but apply to different entities and come from different regulators. The OCC supervises American Express National Bank and announced the $350 million penalty along with its cease-and-desist order. The Federal Reserve’s action names the parent company, American Express Company, and American Express Travel Related Services Company.
According to the company, the regulatory reviews had been disclosed before the orders were announced. Squeri said American Express had been working with regulators over the past several years to strengthen its controls. That statement describes the company’s response; it does not, on its own, establish that the regulators consider the identified issues resolved. The supplied report contains no prior penalty figure, detailed remediation timetable, or account of how the regulators’ investigations began.
“While we have made meaningful progress, we know there is more work to do.”
— American Express Chairman and CEO Stephen J. Squeri
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Remediation Details Still Pending
The supplied announcements do not set out the specific corrective steps, implementation deadlines or monitoring arrangements required by either cease-and-desist order. They also do not explain how the OCC calculated the $350 million penalty or whether additional penalties or restrictions could follow if the bank fails to meet its obligations.
The material gives no detailed examples of transactions involved, no count of reports that were missed or delayed, and no information establishing that particular customers or counterparties committed money laundering. The Fed’s action is described as an enforcement action addressing detection, reporting and program implementation, but no separate Fed monetary penalty is reported in the source. Those details should not be inferred from the OCC fine.
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Compliance Work Under Regulatory Orders
American Express said it will continue working with banking regulators and law enforcement and building its financial-crimes compliance program. The OCC and Federal Reserve orders make the named entities’ remediation the next central development. The supplied information does not identify a deadline for the companies to complete the work or a date for a further public update.
Readers can expect the next useful information to clarify the orders’ requirements, the company’s progress in addressing staffing, risk assessment and monitoring weaknesses, and whether regulators consider those steps adequate. Until such details are available, the company’s statement of intent should be distinguished from a regulator’s confirmation that the deficiencies have been corrected.
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Key Questions
Which American Express entity was fined $350 million?
The OCC imposed the $350 million civil penalty on American Express National Bank and issued a cease-and-desist order against it.
What deficiencies did the OCC identify?
The OCC cited inadequate program resources, risk assessments not sufficiently tailored to the bank’s activities, and systemic problems with suspicious-activity monitoring and reporting.
What did the Federal Reserve order?
The Fed issued a separate enforcement action naming American Express Company and American Express Travel Related Services Company. It addressed shortcomings in detecting and reporting suspicious activity and in implementing the enterprise-wide AML program. The supplied report does not identify a separate Fed fine.
Did American Express say the issues have been fixed?
No. CEO Stephen Squeri said the company had made meaningful progress but that more work remained. The supplied material does not say regulators have confirmed that the deficiencies are resolved.
What remains unknown about the orders?
The available information does not provide the orders’ detailed requirements or deadlines, the OCC’s calculation of the penalty, or specific transaction examples. It also does not establish that particular customers were harmed or that suspected transactions were proven to involve money laundering.
Source: rss
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