AXP

AMERICAN EXPRESS CO

NYSE · FINANCIALS · FINANCE SERVICES

323.86

+5.52 +1.73%

USD · close Oct 21

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MKT CAP $218.7BP/E 19.7DIV YIELD 1.09%FCF YIELD 6.88%REV TTM $43.1B +8.8%NET INCOME $11.4B +12.8%NET DEBT $13.6B52W 292.27 – 384.89SEC XBRL · TTM TO Invalid Date

How AXP rewrote its risk factors

10-K ITEM 1A · FY2024 → FY2025

Text kept

34%

of sentences unchanged

Added

218

new sentences

Dropped

197

sentences removed

Length

+1,233

words, now 16,520

New in FY2025

RISK FACTORS This section highlights certain risks that could affect us and our businesses, broadly categorized in accordance with the risk types identified in our risk governance framework: “Strategic and Reputational Risks,” “Operational and Compliance Risks” and “Credit, Market and Liquidity Risks.” You should carefully consider each of the following risks and all of the other information set forth in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including in “Risk Management” under “MD&A,” which describes our approach to identifying, monitoring and managing the risks we assume in conducting our businesses and provides certain quantitative and qualitative disclosures about market risks.
Although we have devoted and continue to devote significant resources to develop and strengthen our risk management capabilities and control environment, we may not be successful in meeting regulatory expectations and managing the risks to which we are exposed.
Strategic and Reputational Risks Macroeconomic conditions are a major driver of our results of operations and changes in the business and economic environment may materially adversely affect our business.
Slow economic growth, economic contraction, persistent inflationary pressures or shifts in broader consumer and business trends can significantly impact customer behaviors, including spending on our cards, the ability and willingness of Card Members to borrow and pay amounts owed to us, demand for fee-based products and services and levels of customers’ deposits with us.
Factors such as consumer spending and confidence, household income and housing prices, levels of unemployment and underemployment, business investment and inventory levels, bankruptcies, geopolitical instability, public policy decisions and uncertainty, government spending and debt, international trade relationships, tariffs, interest rates, taxes, inflation and deflation (including the effects of related governmental responses), impacts of new technologies, energy costs and availability of capital and credit all affect the economic environment and, ultimately, our profitability.
Likewise, spending by small business and corporate clients, which comprised approximately 41 percent of our worldwide billed business during 2025, depends in part on the economic environment and a favorable climate for continued business investment and new business formation.
Political and social conditions, including geopolitical instability (such as from tensions involving China and the United States), fiscal and monetary policies (including developments related to the U.S. federal deficit, debt ceiling, government shutdowns and other budgetary issues), trade wars and tariffs, labor shortages, regional or domestic hostilities, economic sanctions and the prospect or occurrence of more widespread conflicts could also negatively affect our business, operations and partners, consumer and business spending, including travel patterns and business investment, and demand for credit.
Pandemics and other health emergencies can have widespread and unpredictable impacts on global society, economic conditions and consumer and business behavior.
We are a multinational company that derives a substantial portion of its revenues from activities outside of the United States and many of our U.S. customers have an international presence or are otherwise affected by global developments.
Accordingly, events that impact international relations and geopolitical stability may have a significant impact on our business.
For example, several countries have implemented and are considering the further implementation of tariffs, trade barriers or restrictions and other retaliatory international or domestic policies, as well as other measures affecting cross-border commerce, migration and the flow of information.
These actions have had and may likely continue to have broad consequences for the global economy and regional and country economies, as well as impacts to global supply chains and negative effects on our customers and partners, which may adversely affect our business.
There are multiple ongoing military conflicts around the world and geopolitical tensions may result in additional conflicts or escalate existing conflicts.
Such conflicts have led to economic uncertainty and market disruptions.
For example, as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we exited our business operations in Russia and Belarus.
Geopolitical conditions may adversely affect macroeconomic conditions and our business in a number of ways, including potential retaliatory action against companies such as us and our clients and partners, further sanctions activity and export controls, heightened regulatory scrutiny, increased inflation, further increases or fluctuations in goods and energy prices, decreases in global travel, further disruptions to the global supply chain and increased prevalence and sophistication of cyberattacks.
Disasters and catastrophic events, and the impact of such events on certain industries or the overall economy, could have a negative effect on our business, results of operations and infrastructure, including our technology and systems and those of our partners and suppliers.
If we are not able to differentiate ourselves from our competitors, develop compelling value propositions for our customers and/or effectively use emerging technologies to grow in evolving areas such as digital payments and agentic commerce, we may not be able to compete effectively.
Competition may also intensify as participants in the payments industry merge or enter into joint ventures or other partnerships or business combinations, which may create advantages in competing with our products and services.
We may not be able to compete effectively against these threats or respond or adapt to changes in customer behavior, such as Card Member spending and borrowing or merchant acceptance, as effectively as our competitors.
Competitors may also use AI technologies more effectively than us or partner with companies that do so, which may increase the attractiveness and availability of their products and services and allow them to offer greater value propositions and realize greater operational efficiencies.
The payments industry is complex and continues to undergo changes in response to evolving technologies and customer preferences.
Spending on our cards could continue to be impacted by increasing usage of credit and debit cards issued on other networks and real-time settlement transactions, such as bank transfers, as well as adoption of alternative payment mechanisms, systems and products, such as digital currencies.
The fragmentation of Card Member spending, such as to take advantage of different merchant or card incentives, for convenience with technological solutions or as a result of point-of-sale practices that impact merchant acceptance (e.g., surcharging or differential acceptance), may continue to increase.
Regulatory and legislative changes may also significantly alter the competitive landscape, including by facilitating alternative payment or financing mechanisms, such as recent legislation in the U.S. establishing a regulatory framework for stablecoins, or by imposing constraints on payment or financing mechanisms, such as proposals to cap credit card interest rates.
In addition, companies that control access to consumer and merchant payment method choices at the point of sale or through digital wallets, agentic or other commerce-related experiences, mobile applications or other technologies could choose not to accept, suppress use of, or degrade the experience of using our products or could restrict our access to our customers and transaction data.
As AI technologies are increasingly integrated into payments and related services, such as through the adoption of agentic commerce, these dynamics may accelerate and new dynamics that are difficult to predict may develop, any of which may disadvantage our business.
The competitive value of our data and demand for our products and services may also be diminished as traditional and non-traditional competitors use other, new data sources and technologies, including generative AI, to derive similar insights and by certain regulations.
Open banking initiatives, including those promoted by governments and regulators, may result in a number of challenges to our business model, such as disintermediating us from our customers, steering customers away from our products and services or decreasing our attractiveness to partners.
For example, banking regulators are increasingly open to issuing limited-purpose licenses to allow companies to conduct certain banking activities under more limited regulatory requirements.
For example, we work with partners such as Delta, Marriott, British Airways and Hilton to offer cobranded cards for consumers and small businesses, and with partners in many industries, including Delta, to offer benefits and rewards to Card Members.
Other aspects of our customer value propositions also increasingly rely on our ability to co-create and co-fund value with partners, such as statement credits for purchases with partners and travel and dining benefits.
All of our cobrand portfolios in the aggregate accounted for approximately 26 percent of our worldwide billed business for the year ended December 31, 2025.
Card Member loans related to our cobrand portfolios accounted for approximately 36 percent of our worldwide Card Member loans as of December 31, 2025.
Cobrand and other partner arrangements are generally entered into for a fixed period and will terminate in accordance with their terms, including at the end of the fixed period unless extended or renewed at the option of the parties, or upon early termination as a result of an event of default or otherwise.
Additionally, partners may make changes to the products and services they offer or otherwise become less desirable to our customers, which may lower the value of our products, such as cards with embedded partner value and the cobranded cards we issue to our customers.
We also may not renew certain relationships, such as our Amazon and Lowe’s small business cobrand portfolios, which, as previously disclosed, have been reclassified to held for sale on our Consolidated Balance Sheets.
Billed business could decline and Card Member attrition could increase, in each case, significantly as a result of the termination of one or more partnership relationships.
We regularly seek to extend or renew cobrand and other partner arrangements in advance of the end of the contract term and face the risk that existing relationships will be renegotiated with less favorable terms for us or that we may be unable to renegotiate on terms that are acceptable to us, as competition for such relationships continues to increase.
From customer acquisition to cobranding arrangements, from providing rewards and benefits to customers to facilitating B2B supplier payments for our corporate clients, we rely on our business partners across many aspects of our company and our arrangements with business partners represent a significant portion of our business.

and 178 more.

Gone since FY2024

RISK FACTORS This section highlights certain risks that could affect us and our businesses, broadly categorized in accordance with the risk types identified in our Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Framework: “Strategic & Business, Reputational and Country Risks,” “Operational and Compliance/Legal Risks” and “Model, Credit, Market and Funding & Liquidity Risks.” You should carefully consider each of the following risks and all of the other information set forth in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including in “Risk Management” under “MD&A,” which describes our approach to identifying, monitoring and managing the risks we assume in conducting our businesses and provides certain quantitative and qualitative disclosures about market risks.
Although we have devoted significant resources to develop our risk management policies and procedures and expect to continue to do so in the future, these policies and procedures, as well as our risk management techniques, may not be fully effective in managing the risks to which we are exposed.
For example, while we are currently conducting a comprehensive assessment and uplift of our risk management capabilities and control environment, the outcome may not meet our or our regulators’ expectations.
Strategic & Business, Reputational and Country Risks Business and economic conditions are a major driver of our results of operations and difficult conditions in the business and economic environment may materially adversely affect our business.
Slow economic growth, economic contraction or shifts in broader consumer and business trends significantly impact customer behaviors, including spending on our cards, the ability and willingness of Card Members to borrow and pay amounts owed to us, demand for fee-based products and services and levels of customers’ deposits with us.
Factors such as consumer spending and confidence, household income and housing prices, unemployment rates, business investment and inventory levels, bankruptcies, geopolitical instability, public policy decisions, government spending, international trade relationships, tariffs, interest rates, taxes, inflation and deflation (including the effects of related governmental responses), energy costs and availability of capital and credit all affect the economic environment and, ultimately, our profitability.
Likewise, spending by small business and corporate clients, which comprised approximately 42 percent of our worldwide billed business during 2024, depends in part on the economic environment and a favorable climate for continued business investment and new business formation.
Political and social conditions, including geopolitical instability (such as from tensions involving China and the U.S.), fiscal and monetary policies (including developments related to the U.S. federal deficit, debt ceiling, government shutdowns and other budgetary issues), trade wars and tariffs, labor shortages, regional or domestic hostilities, economic sanctions and the prospect or occurrence of more widespread conflicts could also negatively affect our business, operations and partners, consumer and business spending, including travel patterns and business investment, and demand for credit.
Pandemics and other health emergencies can have widespread and unpredictable impacts on global society, economic conditions and consumer and business behavior, which may reoccur or occur over an extended duration, such as the macroeconomic and behavioral impacts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A number of actions are taking place across the globe that impact geopolitical stability.
Several countries are considering or have implemented tariffs or other trade barriers or restrictions, as well as other measures affecting cross-border commerce and the flow of information, which could have broad economic consequences, impact global supply chains and negatively affect our business, customers and partners.
There are multiple ongoing military conflicts (such as the Russia-Ukraine and Middle East conflicts) and geopolitical tensions may result in additional conflicts or escalate existing conflicts.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we announced that we suspended business operations in Russia and Belarus, and these conflicts have led to economic uncertainty and market disruptions, including the imposition of sanctions and export controls.
The broader consequences remain uncertain, but geopolitical conditions may adversely affect macroeconomic conditions and our business in a number of ways, including regional instability, increased prevalence and sophistication of cyberattacks, potential retaliatory action against companies such as us, further sanctions activity and related regulatory scrutiny, increased inflation, further increases or fluctuations in commodity and energy prices, decreases in global travel and further disruptions to the global supply chain.
For example, there can be no assurance as to the ultimate impact of the Los Angeles area wildfires on spending levels and credit performance.
Disasters and catastrophic events, and the impact of such events on certain industries or the overall economy, could have a negative effect on our business, results of operations and infrastructure, including our technology and systems.
If we are not able to differentiate ourselves from our competitors, develop compelling value propositions for our customers and/or effectively grow in areas such as digital payments and emerging technologies, we may not be able to compete effectively.
Competition may also intensify as participants in the payments industry merge or enter into joint ventures or other business combinations that compete with our products and services.
We may not be able to compete effectively against these threats or respond or adapt to changes in consumer spending and borrowing or merchant acceptance as effectively as our competitors.
Spending on our cards could continue to be impacted by increasing usage of credit and debit cards issued on other networks and real-time settlement transactions, such as bank transfers, as well as adoption of alternative payment mechanisms, systems and products.
The fragmentation of customer spending, such as to take advantage of different merchant or card incentives, as a result of point-of-sale practices that impact merchant acceptance (e.g., surcharging or differential acceptance) or for convenience with technological solutions, may continue to increase.
In addition, companies that control access to consumer and merchant payment method choices at the point of sale or through digital wallets, commerce-related experiences, mobile applications or other technologies could choose not to accept, suppress use of, or degrade the experience of using our products or could restrict our access to our customers and transaction data.
The competitive value of our data and demand for our products and services may also be diminished as traditional and non-traditional competitors use other, new data sources and technologies to derive similar insights and by certain regulations.
Open banking initiatives that are increasingly being promoted by governments and regulators may result in a number of challenges to our business model, such as disintermediating us from our customers, steering customers away from our products and services or decreasing our attractiveness to partners.
For example, we work with partners such as Delta, Hilton, Marriott and British Airways to offer cobranded cards for consumers and small businesses, and with partners in many industries, including Delta, to offer benefits and rewards to Card Members.
All of our cobrand portfolios in the aggregate accounted for approximately 25 percent of our worldwide billed business for the year ended December 31, 2024.
Card Member loans related to our cobrand portfolios accounted for approximately 36 percent of our worldwide Card Member loans as of December 31, 2024.
Cobrand arrangements are entered into for a fixed period, generally ranging from five to ten years, and will terminate in accordance with their terms, including at the end of the fixed period unless extended or renewed at the option of the parties, or upon early termination as a result of an event of default or otherwise.
Additionally, partners may make changes to the products and services they offer or otherwise become less desirable to our customers, which may lower the value of our products, such as the cobranded cards we issue to our customers.
We may also choose not to renew certain cobrand relationships.
Billed business could decline and Card Member attrition could increase, in each case, significantly as a result of the termination of one or more cobrand partnership relationships.
We regularly seek to extend or renew cobrand arrangements in advance of the end of the contract term and face the risk that existing relationships will be renegotiated with less favorable terms for us or that we may be unable to renegotiate on terms that are acceptable to us, as competition for such relationships continues to increase.
From customer acquisition to cobranding arrangements, from participation in our rewards programs to facilitating B2B supplier payments for our corporate clients, we rely on our business partners across many aspects of our company and our arrangements with business partners represent a significant portion of our business.
Some of our partners manage certain aspects of our customer relationships, such as our OptBlue partners.
For example, the operational rights relating to our prepaid reloadable and gift card business are owned by a business partner and the reloadable operations have experienced disruptions and compliance issues that impacted the ability of our prepaid customers to load and use their cards.
If such operations are interrupted, suspended, terminated or otherwise experience further issues in the future, it could further negatively impact our customers’ experience, result in additional costs, litigation and regulatory action, and harm our business and reputation.
Similarly, we are exposed to risk from bankruptcies, liquidations, insolvencies, financial distress, restructurings, consolidations, operational outages, cybersecurity incidents and other similar events that may occur in any industry representing a significant portion of our billed business, which could negatively impact particular card products and services (and volumes generally) and our financial condition and results of operations.
Spending at airline merchants accounted for approximately 7 percent of our worldwide billed business for the year ended December 31, 2024.
These third parties may act in ways that could materially harm our business ” below.
Merchants, business partners and third-party merchant acquirers, aggregators and processors are also able to negotiate incentives, pricing concessions and other favorable contractual provisions from us as a condition to accepting our cards, being cobrand partners, offering benefits to our Card Members or signing merchants to accept American Express cards.

and 157 more.

Sentence-level comparison of Item 1A in the two most recent 10-Ks (FY2024 ↗, FY2025 ↗). A reworded sentence counts as one dropped and one added, so heavy edits read as low “kept”. Headings and page furniture are stripped; nothing is summarised by a model.

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