American Express hit with $350 million penalty for weak anti-money laundering controls
U.S. regulators have imposed a $350 million fine on American Express, citing serious shortcomings in its anti-money laundering program that allowed billions in suspicious activity to go unreported.
American Express has been fined $350 million after U.S. banking regulators determined its anti-money laundering program was inadequate. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve said the bank’s monitoring and reporting systems were deficient, lacking proper resources, training and internal controls. Their investigation uncovered a failure to identify, evaluate and report about $13 billion in suspicious activity over the last decade.
The regulators highlighted that the company concentrated on risks in its narrow deposit offerings while giving insufficient attention to its extensive credit-card business, and pointed out gaps in customer due-diligence and identification processes. A spokesperson for American Express neither admitted nor denied the regulators’ conclusions and did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Comptroller Jonathan Gould emphasized that banks of this size must allocate adequate resources to comply with anti-money-laundering laws that protect economic and national security.
Why it matters
The fine underscores heightened regulatory scrutiny of financial institutions and the importance of robust anti-money-laundering safeguards.
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