$350 Million OCC BSA/AML Penalty for Major Credit Card Issuer

The OCC recently announced a pair of consent orders – one requiring remediation and a separate order assessing a $350 million civil money penalty – against a national bank focused on issuing credit cards, for findings of BSA/AML violations, including: failure to tailor risk assessments to its business activities; failure to establish and maintain an effective framework for ongoing customer due diligence and an adequate customer identification program; and systemic breakdowns in SAR monitoring, investigation, and reporting processes.  The findings cover conduct from 2014 through 2025.  The Bank neither admitted nor denied the OCC’s findings in the consent orders. 

The consent order requiring remedial action specified that “[t]he Bank’s BSA/AML program has systemic internal control gaps and weak independent testing and BSA/AML training for employees and directors.”  This consent order further specified that “[a] significant result of the deficiencies in the Bank’s BSA/AML compliance program was its failure to timely identify, evaluate, and sufficiently report suspicious activity related to its processing of suspected [trade-based money laundering] activity.”

Among other requirements, the Bank must submit a written plan to the OCC, detailing the necessary remedial actions to achieve and maintain BSA compliance, including: a description of these remedial actions; the specific portions of the consent order that each remedial action will address; reasonable and well-supported timelines specifying the dates by which the remedial actions will be completed; and the person(s) responsible for completing the remedial actions.