American Express Fined $350M Over $13B Money Laundering Probe

American Express National Bank has agreed to a $350M consent order with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) over its failure to maintain an effective Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money Laundering program. The OCC found the bank processed approximately $13B in suspected trade-based money laundering (TBML) during an 11-year period between June 2014 and May 2025. Regulators noted the illicit activity involved manipulated invoices and a combination of suspicious card charges and associated repayments, including transactions routed through accounts associated with bank insiders. The Federal Reserve issued a parallel enforcement action barring American Express from directly or indirectly retaining any officer, employee, or contractor who participated in the underlying misconduct or faced internal disciplinary action for it. The company filed a Form 8-K with the SEC confirming the civil penalty was partially reserved for in prior periods and is not anticipated to impact its 2026 or 2027 financial guidance.