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American Express has been fined $350 million by US regulators for failing to maintain adequate anti-money laundering compliance programs. The regulators cited systemic breakdowns and insufficient oversight of the company's credit card business.
Why it matters
This highlights the increasing regulatory scrutiny on major financial institutions regarding their internal controls and ability to detect illicit financial activity.
American Express fined $US350m for insufficient anti-money laundering program Y By Yiying Li
US bank regulators fined American Express $350 million ($501 million) after they determined the lender's programs to identify potential money laundering were insufficient and the company potentially missed billions of dollars in suspicious activity.
The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Reserve announced the enforcement action on Thursday, saying the company, primarily via its national bank, failed to maintain a sufficient anti-money laundering compliance program, including inadequate resources, inexperienced staff, weak training and internal control gaps.
American Express did not admit or deny the regulators' findings.
The OCC said "systemic breakdowns" in its monitoring and reporting meant the lender failed to identify, evaluate and sufficiently report about $US13 billion in suspicious activity over the past decade.
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