United States · Official update
Federal Reserve Board announces enforcement action against American Express Company to address, among other things, the firm’s failure to sufficiently detect and report certain suspicious activity related to money laundering
The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday announced an enforcement action against American Express Company to address, among other things, the firm's failure to sufficiently detect and report certain suspicious activity related to money laundering.
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. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the primary federal regulator of the firm's national bank, has issued a separate enforcement action against the bank.
The Board's action will help ensure that the firm operates in compliance with all U.S. laws and regulations.
PDF summaries & supporting documents
Inside the document
What the PDF says
American Express: October 8, 2026 consent order
DailyMIQ summary · 8-page source document
The Fed ordered American Express and its travel-related-services holding company to strengthen financial-crime controls. They consented to the order without admitting or denying the allegations.
Key points
What the Fed identified
The order describes failures to detect, investigate, and report suspicious activity, plus weaknesses in transaction monitoring, fraud referrals, and third-party risk assessment.
Source: PDF pages 2–3Plans due within 90 days
Required plans cover board oversight, anti-money-laundering risk management, and sanctions compliance. They address monitoring, customer checks, reporting, screening, training, and management accountability.
Source: PDF pages 3–5Ongoing accountability
The companies must cooperate with investigations and provide quarterly progress reports. The order also restricts rehiring certain people disciplined and separated over the underlying misconduct.
Source: PDF pages 5–7
What this means
This Fed order requires corrective action and does not set a monetary penalty. It references a separate OCC order and penalty against American Express National Bank; those are separate regulatory actions.
Key term: Anti-money-laundering controls
Processes for understanding customers, monitoring transactions, investigating alerts, and reporting suspected illicit activity.
Summarized by DailyMIQ from the linked Federal Reserve document. Checked October 18, 2026. Read source PDF
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Source & attribution
Source: Federal Reserve. Text reproduced in DailyMIQ’s reading format. Images, charts, navigation, and media contact details are omitted. The source does not endorse DailyMIQ. The original is available free of charge.
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