American Express Company (AXP)

Overview

American Express Company, together with its consolidated subsidiaries (“American Express,” the “Company,” “we,” “us” or “our”), is a leading global payments and travel company. Our principal products and services are charge and credit payment card products and travel-related services offered to consumers and businesses around the world. We were founded in 1850 as a joint stock association. We were incorporated in 1965 as a New York corporation. As discussed below, on November 14, 2008, American Express Company and its principal operating subsidiary, American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (“TRS”), each became bank holding companies under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (the “BHC Act”) subject to the supervision and examination by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “Federal Reserve”).

Our headquarters are located in New York, New York in lower Manhattan. We also have offices in other locations in North America, as well as throughout the world.

Our reportable operating segments are comprised of two customer-focused groups—the Global Consumer Group and the Global Business-to-Business Group. U.S. Card Services and International Card Services are aligned within the Global Consumer Group and Global Commercial Services and Global Network & Merchant Services are aligned within the Global Business-to-Business Group.

Overview

American Express Company,
together with its consolidated subsidiaries (“American Express,” the “Company,” “we,” “us” or “our”), is a leading global payments and travel company. Our principal products and services are charge
and credit payment card products and travel-related services offered to consumers and businesses around the world. We were founded in 1850 as a joint stock association. We were incorporated in 1965 as a New York corporation. As discussed below, on
November 14, 2008, American Express Company and its principal operating subsidiary, American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (“TRS”), each became bank holding companies under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 (the
“BHC Act”) subject to the supervision and examination by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “Federal Reserve”).

FACE="Times New Roman" SIZE="2">Our headquarters are located in New York, New York in lower Manhattan. We also have offices in other locations in North America, as well as throughout the world.

Overview

On November 14, 2008, American Express Company and TRS became bank holding companies under the BHC Act and elected to be treated as financial holding companies under the BHC Act. As a bank holding company under the BHC Act, the Company is subject to supervision and examination by the Federal Reserve. Under the system of “functional regulation” established under the BHC Act, the Federal Reserve supervises the Company, including all of its nonbank subsidiaries, as an “umbrella regulator” of the consolidated organization and generally defers to the primary U.S. regulators of the Company’s U.S. depository institution subsidiaries, as applicable, and to the other U.S. regulators of the Company’s U.S. non-depository institution subsidiaries that regulate certain activities of those subsidiaries, such as insurance companies regulated by state insurance authorities.

Most aspects of our business continue to be subject to rigorous regulation by other U.S. Federal and state regulatory agencies and securities exchanges and by non-U.S. government agencies or regulatory bodies and securities exchanges. Certain of our public disclosure, internal control environment and corporate governance principles are subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“Sarbanes-Oxley”) and related regulations and rules of the SEC and the New York Stock Exchange, Inc. New laws or regulations or changes to existing laws and regulations (including changes in interpretation or enforcement) could materially adversely affect our financial condition or results of operations. As a global financial institution, to the extent that different regulatory systems impose overlapping or inconsistent requirements on the conduct of our business, we face complexity and additional costs in our compliance efforts.

Overview

On November 14, 2008, American Express Company and TRS became bank holding companies under the BHC Act and elected to be treated
as financial holding companies under the BHC Act. As a bank holding company under the BHC Act, the Company is subject to supervision and examination by the Federal Reserve. Under the system of “functional regulation” established under the
BHC Act, the Federal Reserve supervises the Company, including all of its nonbank subsidiaries, as an “umbrella regulator” of the consolidated organization and generally defers to the primary U.S. regulators of the Company’s U.S.
depository institution subsidiaries, as applicable, and to the other U.S. regulators of the Company’s U.S. non-depository institution subsidiaries that regulate certain activities of those subsidiaries, such as insurance companies regulated by
state insurance authorities.

Most aspects of our business continue to be subject to rigorous regulation by other U.S. Federal and state
regulatory agencies and securities exchanges and by non-U.S. government agencies or regulatory bodies and securities exchanges. Certain of our public disclosure, internal control environment and corporate governance principles are subject to the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“Sarbanes-Oxley”) and related regulations and rules of the SEC and the New York Stock Exchange, Inc. New laws or regulations or changes to existing laws and regulations (including changes in interpretation or
enforcement) could materially adversely affect our financial condition or results of operations. As a global financial institution, to the extent that different regulatory systems impose overlapping or inconsistent requirements on the conduct of our
business, we face complexity and additional costs in our compliance efforts.

Overview

In December 2007, the Company began to feel the effects of the weakening U.S. economy as cardmember spending slowed and past-due and write-off rates in U.S. Card Services increased. In the latter part of 2007, there was also significant volatility in the capital markets, particularly for the valuations of mortgage-backed and other asset-backed structured products as well as in the issuance cost and availability of short-term, asset-backed debt for certain issuers. These trends have continued into the first quarter of 2008.

Overview

American Express Company, together with its consolidated subsidiaries (“American Express,” the “Company,” “we,” “us” or “our”), is a leading global payments and travel company. Our principal products and services are charge and credit payment card products and travel-related services offered to consumers and businesses around the world. We were founded in 1850 as a joint stock association. We were incorporated in 1965 as a New York corporation.

Our headquarters are located in New York, New York in lower Manhattan. We also have offices in other locations in North America, as well as throughout the world.

During 2007, we realigned our reportable operating segments to reflect the reorganization of our businesses into two customer-focused groups—the Global Consumer Group and the Global Business-to-Business Group. Accordingly, U.S. Card Services and International Card Services are aligned within the Global Consumer Group and Global Commercial Services and Global Network & Merchant Services are aligned within the Global Business-to-Business Group.

Overview

American Express Company, together with its consolidated subsidiaries (“American Express,” the “Company,” “we,” “us” or “our”), is a leading global payments, network and travel company that offers its products and services throughout the world. We were founded in 1850 as a joint stock association. We were incorporated in 1965 as a New York corporation.

Our headquarters are located in New York, New York in lower Manhattan. We also have offices in other locations in North America, as well as throughout the world.

Effective September 30, 2005, we realigned our operating segments to reflect the spin-off to our shareholders of our American Express Financial Advisors business unit (now known as Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (“Ameriprise”)). We now have four operating segments: Global Network & Merchant Services, U.S. Card Services, International Card & Global Commercial Services and Corporate & Other, each of whose businesses we will describe below.