American Express Company : Fourth Quarter 2011

Q4 2011 American Express Earnings Conference Call
January 19, 2012 5:00 p.m. ET

Supporting Materials

NOTE RELATING TO NON-GAAP FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES

This presentation contains certain non-GAAP financial disclosures. The Company's calculations of non-GAAP measures may differ from the calculations of similarly titled measures of other companies. Information relating to comparable GAAP financial measures may be found on the relevant slides both attached hereto and located on American Express Company's investor relations website at .

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This presentation includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which are subject to risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements, which address the Company's expected business and financial performance, among other matters, contain words such as "believe," "expect," "estimate," "anticipate," "optimistic," "intend," "plan," "aim," "will," "may," "should," "could," "would," "likely," and similar expressions. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements, include, but are not limited to, the following:

• changes in global economic and business conditions, including consumer and business spending, the availability and cost of credit, unemployment and political conditions, all of which may significantly affect spending on American Express cards, delinquency rates, loan balances and other aspects of our business and results of operations;

• changes in capital and credit market conditions, including sovereign credit worthiness, which may significantly affect the Company's ability to meet its liquidity needs, access to capital and cost of capital, including changes in interest rates; changes in market conditions affecting the valuation of the Company's assets; or any reduction in the Company's credit ratings or those of its subsidiaries, which could materially increase the cost and other terms of the Company's funding, restrict its access to the capital markets or result in contingent payments under contracts;

• litigation, such as class actions or proceedings brought by governmental and regulatory agencies (including the lawsuit filed against the Company by the U.S. Department of Justice and certain state attorneys general), that could result in (i) the imposition of behavioral remedies against the Company or the Company voluntarily making certain changes to its business practices, the effects of which in either case could have a material adverse impact on the Company's financial performance; (ii) the imposition of substantial monetary damages in private actions against the Company; and/or (iii) damage to the Company's global reputation and brand;

• legal and regulatory developments wherever the Company does business, including legislative and regulatory reforms in the United States, such as the Dodd-Frank Reform Act's stricter regulation of large, interconnected financial institutions, changes in requirements relating to securitization and the establishment of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, which could make fundamental changes to many of the Company's business practices or materially affect its capital requirements, results of operations, or ability to pay dividends or repurchase its stock; actions and potential future actions by the FDIC and credit rating agencies applicable to securitization trusts, which could impact the Company's ABS program; or potential changes in the federal tax system that could substantially alter, among other things, the taxation of the Company's international businesses, the allowance of deductions for significant expenses, or the incidence of consumption taxes on the Company's transactions, products and services;

• the Company's net interest yield on U.S. cardmember loans not remaining at historical levels, which will be influenced by, among other things, the effects of the CARD Act (including the regulations requiring the Company to periodically reevaluate APR increases), interest rates, changes in consumer behavior that affect loan balances, such as paydown rates, the credit quality of the Company's portfolio and the Company's cardmember acquisition strategy, product mix, cost of funds, credit actions, including line size and other adjustments to credit availability, and potential pricing changes;

• changes in the substantial and increasing worldwide competition in the payments industry, including competitive pressure that may impact the prices the Company charges merchants that accept the Company's cards and the success of marketing, promotion or rewards programs;

• changes in technology or in the Company's ability to protect its intellectual property (such as copyrights, trademarks, patents and controls on access and distribution), and invest in and compete at the leading edge of technological developments across the Company's businesses, including technology and intellectual property of third parties on whom the Company relies, all of which could materially affect the Company's results of operations;

• data breaches and fraudulent activity, which could damage the Company's brand, increase the Company's costs or have regulatory implications, and changes in regulation affecting privacy and data security under federal, state and foreign law, which could result in higher compliance and technology costs to the Company or the Company's vendors;

• changes in the Company's ability to attract or retain qualified personnel in the management and operation of the Company's business, including any changes that may result from increasing regulatory supervision of compensation practices;

• changes in the financial condition and creditworthiness of the Company's business partners, such as bankruptcies, restructurings or consolidations, involving merchants that represent a significant portion of the Company's business, such as the airline industry, or the Company's partners in Global Network Services or financial institutions that the Company relies on for routine funding and liquidity, which could materially affect the Company's financial condition or results of operations;

• uncertainties associated with business acquisitions, including the ability to realize anticipated business retention, growth and cost savings, accurately estimate the value of goodwill and intangibles associated with individual acquisitions, effectively integrate the acquired business into the Company's existing operations or implement or remediate controls, procedures and policies at the acquired company;

• the Company may not be able to contain operating expenses in 2012 due to, among other factors, the Company's inability to balance the control and management of expenses and the maintenance of competitive service levels to our businesses and customers, unanticipated increases in significant categories of operating expenses, such as consulting or professional fees, compliance or regulatory costs and technology costs, higher than expected employee levels due to lower than expected attrition rates or employee needs not currently anticipated, and the level of acquisition activity and related expenses;

• the Company's ratio of expenses to revenues may not migrate back towards historical levels over time, which will depend on (i) the ability of the Company to grow revenues, which will be impacted by, among other things, the growth of consumer and business spending on American Express cards, higher travel commissions and fees, the growth of and/or higher yields on the loan portfolio and the development of new revenue opportunities, and (ii) the success of the Company in containing operating expenses, which will be impacted by, among other things, the factors identified in the preceding bullet;

• changes affecting the success of the Company's reengineering and other cost control initiatives, which may result in the Company not realizing all or a significant portion of the benefits that the Company intends;

• the actual amount to be spent by the Company on investments in the business, including on marketing, promotion, rewards and cardmember services and certain other operating expenses, which will be based in part on management's assessment of competitive opportunities and the Company's performance and the ability to control and manage operating, infrastructure, advertising, promotion and rewards expenses as business expands or changes, including the changing behavior of cardmembers;

• the effectiveness of the Company's risk management policies and procedures, including credit risk relating to consumer debt, liquidity risk in meeting business requirements and operational risk;

• the Company's lending write-off rates for 2012 could increase more quickly and higher than expected, which will depend in part on changes in the level of the Company's loan balances, delinquency rates of cardmembers, unemployment rates, the volume of bankruptcies and recoveries of previously written-off loans;

• changes affecting the Company's ability to accept or maintain deposits due to market demand or regulatory constraints, such as changes in interest rates and regulatory restrictions on the Company's ability to obtain deposit funding or offer competitive interest rates, which could affect the Company's liquidity position and the Company's ability to fund the Company's business;

• factors beyond the Company's control such as fire, power loss, disruptions in telecommunications, severe weather conditions, natural disasters, terrorism, "hackers" or fraud, which could affect travel-related spending or disrupt the Company's global network systems and ability to process transactions; and

• the Company's funding plan for the full year 2012 being implemented in a manner inconsistent with current expectations, which will depend on various factors such as future business growth, the impact of global economic, political and other events on market capacity, demand for securities offered by the Company, regulatory changes, ability to securitize and sell receivables and the performance of receivables previously sold in securitization transactions.

A further description of these uncertainties and other risks can be found in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010, the Company's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, June 30 and September 30, 2011, and the Company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.