U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency releases enforcement actions including USD 1.1 billion in penalties against American Express and Bank of America

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) released its October 2026 enforcement actions, including penalties totaling USD 1.1 billion against American Express National Bank and Bank of America, National Association, for Bank Secrecy Act compliance deficiencies and related violations. The release also includes prohibition orders against two individuals for embezzling customer funds. American Express National Bank received a cease and desist order and a USD 350 million civil money penalty for deficiencies in its Bank Secrecy Act compliance program, failures to file suspicious activity reports on time, and violations involving customer due diligence and its customer identification program. Bank of America received a USD 750 million civil money penalty for Bank Secrecy Act compliance program deficiencies, failures to file suspicious activity reports on time, and wire transfers containing inaccurate transmittor name information. The prohibition orders bar Jennifer Hamblin, a vault teller at a Fifth Third Bank branch, and Christopher Organista, a former operations processor at U.S. Bank, from participating in the affairs of banks or other covered institutions. Hamblin embezzled customer funds, causing approximately USD 292,000 in losses to the bank. Organista embezzled approximately USD 194,131 in bank customer funds.