American Express says can satisfy funding needs

NEW YORK (Reuters) - American Express Co (AXP.N), the fourth-largest U.S. card issuer, said on Monday it would have enough liquidity to satisfy its funding needs for at least 12 months if access to fixed income capital markets were interrupted.

The card issuer and processing network, part of the Dow Jones industrial average, said that through September 30 it had raised 85 percent of the $27 billion of term debt targeted for issuance under its 2008 funding plan.

American Express has $20 billion in debt maturing in 2009, but the company said it had access to various sources of cash -- from U.S. Treasury and government agency securities to bank credit facilities -- to fund its financial needs.

"The company believes that it would have the liquidity to satisfy all maturing obligations and fund normal business operations for at least a 12-month period in the event that access to the secured and unsecured fixed income capital markets were interrupted," American Express said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

American Express is more dependent on short-term capital markets to fulfill its funding needs than some of its bigger rivals with huge deposits.

Investors have said the current credit squeeze would significantly increase American Express funding costs and hurt its profits.

American Express stock closed down 2.59 percent, or 80 cents, to $30.07 on the New York Stock Exchange,

The credit card company's earnings have slipped this year as credit cards' net charge-offs and delinquency rates jumped, and as the company increased its loan loss provisions.

In July American Express abandoned its earnings outlook.

(Reporting by Juan Lagorio, editing by Carol Bishopric)