The Federal Reserve Board said Thursday it issued an enforcement action against American Express Company over what it described as a failure to sufficiently detect and report certain suspicious activity related to money laundering.
In the order, the Fed said it found significant deficiencies in American Express’s enterprise-wide anti-money laundering program, especially at its subsidiary national bank. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency separately issued an enforcement action against the bank.
The order says the Board investigated the firm’s failure to timely and sufficiently detect, investigate and report suspicious activity. It also cites recent Federal Reserve Bank of New York supervisory assessments that found weaknesses in transaction monitoring, fraud referral processes, third-party risk assessment and financial crimes risk management.
Within 90 days of the order’s effective date, the Amex board must submit a written oversight plan. American Express must also submit a plan to improve its enterprise-wide BSA/AML compliance risk management program, and TRS must submit a plan to address compliance with Office of Foreign Assets Control requirements.
The order also bars American Express and TRS from retaining certain individuals involved in the misconduct described in the order. It requires quarterly progress reports after the first full calendar quarter following the order date.
