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Already the target of multiple lawsuits filed by former employees, Axiom Bank, the second-largest community bank in Florida, has landed in hot water with regulators after disregarding the risk of financial crime posed by merchant payment processors and prepaid card providers.

On Thursday, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency published a formal agreement with Axiom that requires the 24-branch lender to review entire batches of transactions processed from Jan. 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, and report those that appear illicit to the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

Axiom must refrain from onboarding additional prepaid-card providers and merchant processors without the OCC’s approval pursuant to the agreement, which further bars the lender from adding new merchants to any existing “merchant-processing partnerships.”

The OCC published the agreement almost a year to the day after Axiom’s remotely employed former chief compliance officer in New Jersey, Wesley Ward, accused the lender in a lawsuit of unfairly terminating his employment after he raised concerns over the bank’s anti-money laundering program and oversight of third-party partners.

“Axiom Bank knew or strongly suspected that Ward had complained to federal banking authorities as a result of inquiries raised by the OCC,” his attorney alleged in the lawsuit. “In June of 2023, Mr. Ward was asked to explain his concerns to [board members]. Within a week of doing so, he was terminated on the grounds that his job was being eliminated.”

Former executive vice presidents Paul Ciccotto, George Panos and Raamie Ibrahim have also filed lawsuits against Axiom.