October 15, 2009
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News: American Express Remains on Top!
American Express Co. hailed as the nation's top performer in the credit card industry, isn't ready to give up its esteem title anytime soon. The prestigious lender filed its September and third quarters numbers indicating card delinquencies of 30 days or more were decreased in the third quarter to 4.1 percent down from second quarter's 4.4 percent. September's credit card defaults remained virtually flat with August and slightly better than July's 4.2 percent. Stable numbers in delinquencies are an indicator of future credit card defaults. American Express continues to recover from its previously high card delinquencies which evolved into an 8.4 percent write-off rate for the month of September. Defaults were down slightly from 9 percent in August and 9.2 percent in July.
Total third quarter U.S. credit card defaults were significantly down to 8.9 percent from a high of 10 percent in second quarter. The company performed better than expected when forecasters predicted that defaults would drop below 10 percent for the third and fourth quarters. American Express is the nation's largest card lender by volume of sales accounts for more than 24 percent of the U.S. total transaction volume. Although once only considered a credit card company, American Express gained approval from the Federal Reserve in November, 2008 to convert to a bank holding company. The move made them eligible to seek relief under the Troubled Assts Relief Program (TARP). The company has since repaid all funds plus dividends received under the government bailout program.
American Express is a global financial institution and is based out of New York City. The company is ranked as one of the most valuable brands in the world by Business Week. They are best known for catering to the elite with its credit card and travel cheques business. American Express is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol AXP. Over the past 52 weeks, the company has experienced a trading low of $9.71 and a high of $36.50.