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1. American Express Company

1.1 Introduction

American Express Company (American Express), incorporated on June 10, 1965, is a global

service company. Its principal products and services are charge and credit payment card

products and travel-related services offered to consumers and businesses worldwide.

The Company operates in four segments: U.S. Card Services, International Card Services, Global

Commercial Services (GCS) and Global Network & Merchant Services (GNMS). Corporate

functions and auxiliary businesses, including the Companys Enterprise Growth Group,

publishing business and other company operations, are included in Corporate & Other.American Express and its principal operating subsidiary, American Express Travel Related

Services Company, Inc. (TRS), are bank holding companies.

An engine of commerce, American Express provides innovative payment, travel and expense

management solutions for individuals and businesses of all sizes.

1.2 Origin

The original company was founded on March 18, 1850, through the consolidation of three

companies active in the express transport of goods, valuables, and specie between New York

City and Buffalo, New York, and points in the Midwest:

I. Livingston, Fargo & Company (formerly Western Express), founded in 1845 by HenryWells and William G. Fargo, later ofWells Fargo fame;

II. Wells & Co. (formerly Livingston, Wells & Co.), cofounded by Wells in 1846 and underhis ownership at the time of the merger; and

III. Butterfield & Wasson, founded by John Butterfield and James D. Wasson. AmericanExpress was at first an unincorporated association of investors headed by Wells aspresident and Fargo as secretary.

By the end of the American Civil War, its business had so flourished, with some 900 offices in 10

states, that it attracted competition in 1866 in the formation of Merchants Union Express

Company. For two years the two companies engaged in cutthroat competition and, on the

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verge of financial exhaustion, finally merged on November 25, 1868, to form the American

Merchants Union Express Company, with Fargo succeeding as president.

The company was renamed American Express Company in 1873.

On Fargos death in 1881, his younger brother, James Congdell Fargo (18291915), becamepresident and guided the company for the next 33 years, introducing such innovations as the

American Express Money Order (1882) and the American Express Travelers Cheque (1891), and

opening the first European office in Paris (1895). International expansion continued with the

opening of offices in other European countries, including England (1896) and Germany (1898),

and in the early 1900s the company began offering services in Argentina, Brazil, China, Japan,

Egypt, and India. When the U.S. federal government nationalized the express industry in 1918,

thereby consolidating all domestic express operations in the American Railway Express

Company (see REA Express, Inc.), American Express turned almost wholly to its banking

operations and its relatively new travel services, which had been launched in 1915.

The classic American Express green charge card was introduced in 1958. From the 1960s

through the 80s, American Express diversified its holdings by acquiring companies in areas such

as investment banking, insurance, and publishing. It purchased Firemans Fund Insurance

Company in 1968 (spun off in 1985), Shearson Loeb Rhoades, Inc., a leading brokerage firm, in

1981 (sold in 1993), and Investors Diversified Services, Inc., a large Minneapolis-

based insurance, mutual fund, and financial advisory concern, in 1984 (spun off in 2005

as Ameriprise Financial, Inc.).

American Express is a leading issuer of personal, small business, and corporate credit cards. The

companys travel-related offerings, provided through roughly 2,000 offices around the world,

include travelers, credit cards, corporate and personal travel planning services, tour packages,

and agencies for hotel and car-rental reservations.

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1.3 Time line for important events

year Event

2012 Uralsib Bank and American Express Announce Card-IssuingPartnership in Russia

2011 Regular dividend declared

2010 Currency, a new service from Amex on digital platform

2009 Repays TARP funding

2008 Suffers from credit card write-offs

2008 Accepts TARP funding

2000 Enters credit card business

1991 Boston Fee Party

1980 Increasing competition, declining share

1963 One million cards in circulation

1958 First charge card issued

1950 Period of unsuccessful non-core acquisitions

1929 Almost taken over by Chase Bank

1901 Travelers Cheques generate $6 million of revenue per year

1891 Introduction of Travelers Cheques

1882 Transition into financial services

1850 Founded as an express delivery system

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2. Corporate Management Team at Amex

2.1 Senior management

Kenneth I. Chenault

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Douglas E. Buckminster

President, International Consumer and Small

Business Services

James P. Bush

Executive Vice President, World Service

Jeffrey C. Campbell

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial

Officer

L. Kevin Cox

Chief Human Resources Officer

Edward P. Gilligan

President, American Express Company

William H. Glenn

President, Global Corporate Payments and

Business Travel

Marc D. Gordon

Executive Vice President and Chief Information

Officer, Global Corporate Services

Ashwini Gupta

Chief Risk Officer, American Express Company

President, Risk and Information Management

Group

John D. Hayes

Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing

Officer

Louise M. Parent

Executive Vice President and General Counsel

Thomas A. Schick

Executive Vice President, Corporate and

External Affairs

Daniel H. SchulmanGroup President, Enterprise Growth

Joshua G. SilvermanPresident, U.S. Consumer Services

Steve Squeri

Group President, Global Corporate Services

Anre Williams

President, Global Merchant Services

2.2 Board of Directors

Kenneth I. ChenaultChairman and Chief Executive Officer,

American Express Company

Charlene BarshefskySenior International Partner, WilmerHale

Ursula M. BurnsChairman and Chief Executive Officer, XeroxCorporation

Peter CherninFounder and Chairman, CherninEntertainment, Inc.

Anne LauvergeonPartner and Managing Director, EfficiencyCapital

Theodore J. LeonsisChairman and Chief Executive Officer,Monumental Sports & Entertainment, LLC

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Richard C. LevinPresident Emeritus, Yale University

Richard A. McGinnGeneral Partner, MR Investment Partners

Samuel J. PalmisanoFormer Chairman, President and ChiefExecutive Officer of IBM

Steven S ReinemundDean, Wake Forest Schools of Business;Retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer,

PepsiCo Inc.Daniel L. VasellaFormer Chairman and CEO, Novartis AG

Robert D. WalterFounder and Former Chairman and ChiefExecutive Officer, Cardinal Health, Inc.

Ronald A. WilliamsFormer Chairman and Chief Executive Officer,Aetna Inc.

1. Chief Marketing Officer, John Hayes

2. Brand Manager,