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Friday, October 9, 2026

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Banks · Friday, October 9, 2026

Regulators order American Express to fix money-laundering controls; its bank pays $350 million

The File desk · Oct 9, 2026, 10:51 AM UTC

Status

Confirmed. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's news release 2026-87, and the Federal Reserve's enforcement announcement, both dated Oct. 8, 2026. This is not a criminal case. No one is charged.

  • Confirmed

    The Comptroller fined American Express National Bank $350 million and said the bank failed to report about $13 billion in suspected trade-based money laundering over a decade.

  • Confirmed

    The Federal Reserve ordered the parent company to fix its company-wide program. The Fed's announcement does not state a fine.

Two federal bank regulators said Thursday that American Express did not do enough to catch money laundering. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates national banks, fined the company's bank $350 million. It said the bank failed to spot and report, in time, about $13 billion in suspected trade-based money laundering over the past decade. The bank, it said, focused on the risks of its small deposit business and paid too little attention to its much bigger card business. The Federal Reserve separately ordered the parent company to fix its company-wide program.

The Comptroller's release, No. 2026-87, announces a

and a $350 million civil money penalty against American Express National Bank in Sandy, Utah. The penalty goes to the U.S. Treasury. The release says the bank had systemic breakdowns in watching for suspicious activity and reporting it, and failed to identify, evaluate, and sufficiently report approximately $13 billion of suspected trade-based money laundering over the past decade.

The Comptroller says the bank focused on the risks in its relatively narrow demand-deposit products and not enough on the risks in its more dominant credit and charge card products. It also cites too few qualified staff, gaps in internal controls, weak independent testing, and weak training. Comptroller Jonathan Gould said American Express failed to keep a program under the

lined up with the money-laundering risks of its business. The is the main U.S. anti-money-laundering law for banks. It requires a compliance program that monitors transactions and reports suspicious activity.

The Federal Reserve, at 4:30 p.m. Eastern, announced an enforcement action against American Express Company for failing to sufficiently detect and report certain suspicious activity related to money laundering. The order is a consent

, Docket No. 26-052-B-HC, against American Express Company and American Express Travel Related Services Company. The Fed's order says the Comptroller issued a consent and a civil money penalty against the bank for failing to comply with requirements. The Fed's announcement does not state a fine of its own. The order requires plans from the board and the company within 90 days of the effective date.

The Comptroller's release does not say whether the company admitted or denied the findings. This desk does not characterize that. No one is charged. This is not a criminal case.

What is still unknown or disputed

Primary sources

Every claim in this story is drawn from the documents below. If a fetch failed, that is recorded on the card.

  1. Source 1

    OCC Assesses $350 Million Civil Money Penalty Against American Express

    Office of the Comptroller of the Currency · October 8, 2026

    The bank experienced systemic breakdowns in its suspicious activity monitoring and reporting processes, resulting in a failure to timely identify, evaluate, and sufficiently report approximately $13 billion of suspected trade-based money laundering activity that took place over the past decade.

    https://www.occ.gov/news-issuances/news-releases/2026/nr-occ-2026-87.html

  2. Source 2

    Federal Reserve Board announces enforcement action against American Express Company

    Federal Reserve · October 8, 2026

    The Board also identified significant deficiencies in how American Express Company's enterprise-wide anti-money laundering program was implemented, in particular at the firm's subsidiary national bank.

    https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/enforcement20261008a.htm

  3. Source 3

    Order to Cease and Desist, American Express

    Federal Reserve · October 8, 2026

    has issued a consent and civil money penalty against the Bank for failing to comply with the relevant BSA/AML Requirements.

    https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/files/enf20261008a1.pdf