American Express Co at KBW Fintech Payments Conference Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Sanjay Sakhrani - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc. - Analyst : Yeah. So, it's been a year since me and you were together at this conference, and so I appreciate your loyalty to the conference, number one. But maybe you could walk us through what's in your mind in terms of the biggest success stories for American Express over the course of this year, the biggest challenges you have to overcome to set us up for performance over the next year and beyond?

Question: Sanjay Sakhrani - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc. - Analyst : Great. So, despite the choppy backdrop, both revenue and EPS growth expectations are trending better, and you raised your guidance on your recent earnings call. What do you think is driving the outperformance? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. NOVEMBER 12, 2025 / 2:25PM, AXP.N - American Express Co at KBW Fintech Payments Conference

Question: Sanjay Sakhrani - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc. - Analyst : Okay. Great. So, the tariff concerns as well as the fears of softening economy persist. Given -- I'm sorry, number one, have you seen any change in behavior in the spending patterns across your customer segments, both in Consumer and Small Business? And what do you see going forward?

Question: Sanjay Sakhrani - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc. - Analyst : That's great. That's great to hear. I want to touch a little bit on the merchant litigation that Visa and Mastercard just sort of proposed. They are basically proposing to merchants significant concessions on interchange rates as well as rules around on or all cards. I'm curious how you think it affects American Express?

Question: Sanjay Sakhrani - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc. - Analyst : Yeah. Okay. That's fair. It's still early. Maybe we can switch to the Platinum refresh because that's a big, big topic for the year. The competition on premium cards is intensifying again. What sustains your leadership in the space? And how is the refresh reinforcing that advantage?

Question: Sanjay Sakhrani - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc. - Analyst : So, just fundamentally, I know there's some upfront costs related to the refresh and the revenue sort of come overtime, maybe you could just talk about the timeline of the refresh and how those revenues and expenses sort of flow through and how the margins sort of progress over that time? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. NOVEMBER 12, 2025 / 2:25PM, AXP.N - American Express Co at KBW Fintech Payments Conference

Question: Sanjay Sakhrani - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc. - Analyst : Okay. And then as we think about like the upgrades to Platinum from Gold and other products, like have you seen that being positive? And do you worry about cannibalization in any way from Gold?

Question: Sanjay Sakhrani - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc. - Analyst : It's really interesting because like people were worried about the opposite given the percentage increase in the price, and it's kind of actually outperformed.

Question: Sanjay Sakhrani - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc. - Analyst : That's fabulous. Maybe we shift gears and talk about how American Express has sort of reinvented itself in some ways with the younger demographics. How are the younger Card Members behaving relative to the legacy cohorts in terms of spending and engagement across the ecosystem?

Question: Sanjay Sakhrani - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc. - Analyst : So there's a lot of discussion about the big wealth transfer that's going to happen between generations like the Millennials and Gen Z are going to inherit a ton of money. I'm just -- or Gen X. I'm just curious sort of how is American Express positioning itself? I know you guys are doing a lot to sort of work card products into those customers or consumers' hands. But what else can American Express do?

Question: Sanjay Sakhrani - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc. - Analyst : So another product that seems to resonate with that demographic is Buy Now, Pay Later. So, there's many Buy Now, Pay Later platforms out there that speak to this demographic and attracting this demographic. Like how do you guys think about Buy Now, Pay Later? And do you worry that at some point, it sort of displaces you in some capacity?

Question: Sanjay Sakhrani - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc. - Analyst : Wonderful. Maybe we shift gears to the Small Business segment. It's historically been a big growth driver for American Express, but has been a headwind of late. Is that mainly just a macro dynamic? Or is there something else? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. NOVEMBER 12, 2025 / 2:25PM, AXP.N - American Express Co at KBW Fintech Payments Conference

Question: Sanjay Sakhrani - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc. - Analyst : This headwind from the merchants that are not accepting ACH anymore. Is that a longer-term headwind? Or do you think we're sort of at the backend of it --

Question: Sanjay Sakhrani - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc. - Analyst : Right. No, no we have seen at other parts too.

Question: Sanjay Sakhrani - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc. - Analyst : Got it. Okay. And then you kind of touched on it a little bit, but expense management is an innovation that can help invigorate growth in that segment. And that will take a little bit of time in your minds. And probably some kind of marketing initiative to get these people back. But are there any other enhancements that you guys can make to accelerate the growth there?

Question: Sanjay Sakhrani - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc. - Analyst : Got it. Okay. Maybe we shift to International because that's consistently been growing double digits. Maybe you could give us some insights to the growth there and how you continue to win?

Question: Sanjay Sakhrani - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc. - Analyst : That's great because one of the criticisms has been that maybe the brand doesn't resonate as much internationally, but it seems like it's gaining momentum. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. NOVEMBER 12, 2025 / 2:25PM, AXP.N - American Express Co at KBW Fintech Payments Conference

Question: Sanjay Sakhrani - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc. - Analyst : And you obviously have history in all these different markets.

Question: Sanjay Sakhrani - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc. - Analyst : All right. That's even longer, wow. So, maybe one of the big topics of discussion at this conference has been agentic commerce. Could you just talk about how American Express can sort of capitalize on agentic commerce? I mean you guys have a closed-loop network, lots of data. I would think you're a perfect candidate to sort of participate in that.

Question: Sanjay Sakhrani - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc. - Analyst : Yeah, absolutely. So, the stock is trading at an all-time high in terms of multiple, which is great, which is a testament to both of you, Kartik and Christophe, the work that you guys have done.

Question: Sanjay Sakhrani - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc. - Analyst : And 75,000 colleagues, but telling the message as well. Maybe you can sort of convey the message to investors today, sort of why they should still step up and continue to invest in American Express?

Question: Sanjay Sakhrani - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc. - Analyst : Yeah. It's definitely -- I mean, it seems like the business model has even evolved more to a recurring model as well, relative to the past. Would you agree with that? REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. NOVEMBER 12, 2025 / 2:25PM, AXP.N - American Express Co at KBW Fintech Payments Conference

Question: Sanjay Sakhrani - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc. - Analyst : Great. We only have a couple of minutes left. I have one more question, and maybe I'm going to sort of reframe it a little bit. Definitely, post Costco, just -- you guys have rebuilt the loan portfolio to be more aligned with your customers. Maybe you could just talk about how that sort of manifested itself into the fundamentals of the business today versus when you had Costco?

Question: Sanjay Sakhrani - Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods, Inc. - Analyst : Well, we've run out of time. Christophe, thank you so much. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. NOVEMBER 12, 2025 / 2:25PM, AXP.N - American Express Co at KBW Fintech Payments Conference