American Express Announces Reengineering Plan to Generate $800 Million Cost Benefit

NEW YORK--(Business Wire)--
American Express (NYSE:AXP) announced today a new companywide reengineering
initiative expected to produce cost benefits of approximately $800 million
during the remainder of 2009. The reengineering plan includes: a reduction of
staffing levels, scaled back investment spending, and further cutbacks in
operating costs. Elements of the program include:

* A restructuring charge of approximately $180 to $250 million pre-tax ($117 to
$163 million after-tax) in the second quarter. The charge is primarily
associated with severance and other costs related to the elimination of
approximately 4,000 jobs or about 6 percent of the company`s current worldwide
workforce. The reductions will occur across business units, markets and staff
groups. The total benefit from these staffing decisions is expected to be
approximately $175 million.
* Reduced investment spending on marketing and business development. The
anticipated cost benefit is approximately $500 million. Despite these cutbacks,
the company plans to make substantial investments in selective growth
opportunities, business building initiatives and customer service support.
* A further reduction in operating costs by cutting expenses for consulting and
other professional services, travel, and general overhead. These steps are
expected to realize benefits of approximately $125 million.

The benefits detailed above represents a reduction from previously planned 2009
spending levels and are in addition to the $1.8 billion benefits tied to the
reengineering plan announced in October 2008.

"While we have remained solidly profitable at a time when some parts of the card
industry were incurring substantial losses, we continue to be very cautious
about the economic outlook and are therefore moving forward with additional
reengineering efforts to help further reduce our operating costs," said Kenneth
I. Chenault, chairman and chief executive officer. "We believe these efforts
will put us in a better position to remain profitable and free up some
additional resources that will be reinvested in the business to make sure we can
take competitive advantage of opportunities as the economy begins to rebound."

American Express first announced its plan to embark on an additional companywide
reengineering initiative last month in conjunction with the release of first
quarter results.

American Express Company is a leading global payments and travel company founded
in 1850. For more information, visit www.americanexpress.com.

This report includes forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and
uncertainties.Forward-looking statements contain words such as "believe,"
"expect," "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:the Company's ability to generate
earnings and continue to stay profitable, which will depend in part on
cardmember spending and credit performance, the success of the Company's
reengineering initiatives and the severity of the economic environment; the
success, timeliness and financial impact (including costs, cost savings, and
other benefits, including increased revenues), and beneficial effect on the
Company`s operating expense to revenue ratio, both in the short-term (including
during the remainder of 2009) and over time, of reengineering initiatives being
implemented or considered by the Company, including cost management, structural
and strategic measures such as vendor (including, among others, consulting and
other professional services), process, facilities and operations consolidation,
outsourcing (including, among others, technologies operations), relocating
certain functions to lower-cost overseas locations, moving internal and external
functions to the internet to save costs and travel and other general operating
costs, and planned staff reductions relating to certain of such reengineering
actions; and the Company`s ability to reinvest the benefits arising from such
reengineering actions in its businesses;and the actual amount to be spent by the
Company on marketing, promotion, rewards and cardmember services based on
management`s assessment of competitive opportunities and other factors affecting
its judgment.A further description of these and other risks and uncertainties
can be found in the Company`s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2008, its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended
March 31, 2009, and the Company`s other reports filed with the SEC.

American Express
Media:
Joanna Lambert, 212-640-9668
joanna.g.lambert@aexp.com
or
Michael O`Neill, 212-640-5951
mike.o`neill@aexp.com
or
Investors/Analysts:
Alex Hopwood, 212-640-5495
alex.w.hopwood@aexp.com
or
Ron Stovall, 212-640-5574
ronald.stovall@aexp.com

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