Credit card giant American Express (AXP) has been fined $350 million U.S. for having insufficient anti-money laundering controls in place.
The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and ?Federal Reserve announced the fine, saying American Express failed to maintain a sufficient anti-money laundering program.
The regulators determined that the company’s internal controls used to identify potential money laundering were insufficient and missed billions of dollars worth of suspicious activity.
The OCC said “systemic breakdowns” in its monitoring and reporting meant that American Express failed to identify, evaluate, and sufficiently report $13 billion U.S. in suspicious activity.
The regulator added that American Express focused on risks in its relatively narrow ?deposit products, while not devoting sufficient attention to its much larger credit card business.
Poor oversight of customer due diligence and identification were also found, according to the regulators.
In a media statement, American Express CEO Stephen ?Squeri said the credit card issuer is “fully committed” to strengthening its compliance measures.
Squeri added that the financial penalty is not expected to impact American Express’ financial guidance for 2026 or 2027.
American Express is scheduled to report its third-quarter financial results on Oct. 23.
AXP stock has declined 17% this year to trade at $308.10 U.S. per share.
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