OCC issues October enforcement actions against U.S. banks and bank staff

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OCC October enforcement actions

Highlights

American Express National Bank received a cease and desist order and a $350 million penalty for Bank Secrecy Act compliance deficiencies and reporting failures.
Bank of America was fined $750 million by the OCC for Bank Secrecy Act compliance failures, untimely suspicious activity reports, and inaccurate wire transfer information.
The OCC issued prohibition orders against two employees, involving embezzlement losses of about $292,000 at Fifth Third Bank and $194,131 at U.S. Bank National Association.

October actions target compliance failures

As reported by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the agency released its enforcement actions for October 2026, including penalties against two large national banks for Bank Secrecy Act compliance failures and related reporting violations.

The OCC said it issued a cease and desist order and a $350 million civil money penalty against American Express National Bank in Sandy, Utah. The action cites deficiencies in the bank’s Bank Secrecy Act compliance program, failure to timely file suspicious activity reports, and violations involving customer due diligence and the customer identification program.

Bank of America, National Association in Charlotte, North Carolina, also faces an OCC civil money penalty, assessed at $750 million. The regulator says the bank had deficiencies in its Bank Secrecy Act compliance program, failed to timely file suspicious activity reports, and sent wires with inaccurate transmittor name information.

Individual accountability remains part of OCC oversight

The regulator says enforcement actions are used to require boards and management teams to correct deficient practices or violations, while actions against institution-affiliated parties are meant to deter misconduct, drive corrective action, and prevent unsafe or unsound practices or breaches of fiduciary duty.

Among the individual cases, the OCC issued an order of prohibition against Jennifer Hamblin, a vault teller at a Cincinnati, Ohio, branch of Fifth Third Bank, N.A., for embezzling customer funds. The bank suffered a loss of about $292,000, according to the agency.

The OCC also issued an order of prohibition against Christopher Organista, a former operations processor at the La Mirada, California Operations Center of U.S. Bank National Association, for embezzling about $194,131 in bank customer funds. Under OCC rules, prohibition orders bar an individual from participating in the affairs of a bank or other covered institution.

Our earlier article on the Bank of England’s push for bare metal recovery planning outlined how regulators are urging banks to build independent, end-to-end recovery options to keep critical services running if core technology is compromised. It highlighted that AI is amplifying the scale and complexity of cyber threats, raising supervisory expectations for stronger operational resilience across major lenders.

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