Comptroller Issues Statement Explaining Vote Against Resolution Plan Feedback for American Express, Reasserts Need for Reforms to Resolution Planning

WASHINGTON—Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan V. Gould today issued a statement on his vote against a joint resolution plan letter from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Reserve Board to American Express and reaffirmed the need for reforms to Dodd-Frank Act Section 165(d) resolution plans.

Excerpts from Comptroller Gould’s remarks are below. His full statement can be found here.

Opacity and uncertainty remain hallmarks of the resolution planning process, and we should not allow them to continue.

The agencies are telling a non-systemically important bank to address significant concerns with its resolution strategy without detailing these concerns or explaining the potential consequences if they are not addressed; (2) the agencies retain full discretion to take more severe action if these concerns are not addressed in the next plan; and (3) the options that would likely best protect the company from these consequences are costly to and inappropriate for the organization. Although this non-“shortcoming” feedback may appear to be relatively benign, it is continued evidence that the 165(d) resolution planning process remains as unclear and unfair as it was when it began in the early 2010s.

We have gone too far in forcing banks to structure themselves to fail in an effort to excuse our own inability to resolve them; banks should be built to serve the lending and other financial needs of their communities and customers. Even raising the specter of large-scale restructuring based on this high-level, non-“shortcoming”/non-deficiency feedback is unacceptable.

This feedback reminds me—yet again—that the 165(d) resolution planning process has not changed and is still subject to the faults and abuses I have previously discussed in detail.

Although the agencies are required by statute to collect and review the company’s resolution plan due to the company’s asset size, the agencies are not required to deliver feedback unrelated to financial stability concerns. At a minimum, the agencies should revise their joint resolution plan rule to ensure that resolution planning does not apply to companies below the current statutory threshold of $250 billion in total consolidated assets.

Related Links

• Comptroller Remarks (PDF)
• Comptroller Issues Statement Explaining Abstention from FDIC Vote on Resolution Plan Feedback, May 22, 2026