American Express Co Q3 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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

Question: Sanjay Sakhrani - Keefe Bruyette & Woods Inc - Analyst : Thank you, good morning. First of all, I appreciate all the disclosures on the Platinum Card and the refresh, and it seems like things are going really well there. Steve, I guess, there's been just a lot of resiliency, if not strength, across your customer base. Even Corporate and Small Business did accelerate sequentially. So maybe you could just -- could you just talk about how you're feeling about the path forward? Can things actually improve here, because we've bottomed some and because you had this acceleration, maybe just in a stable macro backdrop specifically? And then just one, Christophe, modeling thing. The gain that you had this quarter, I mean, should we think about it as an explicit benefit? I'm sorry if I missed that commentary if you had any. Thanks.

Question: Ryan Nash - Goldman Sachs - Analyst : Good morning, Steve. Good morning, Christophe. And I echo Sanjay's comments on the disclosure. Maybe, Steve, can you maybe just talk -- or Christophe -- broad strokes on the financial impact of the Platinum refresh, particularly on card fees and VCEs. And, Christophe, you broadly commented on this. But does this in any way impact your ability to generate mid-teens EPS growth, not over time, but during the refresh period? Thank you.

Question: Mark DeVries - Deutsche Bank AG - Analyst : Yeah, thanks. I was hoping to get a better sense of how much you think the Platinum refresh contributed to the acceleration in Billed Business growth during the quarter. I was kind of surprised at how quickly you made some of those credits like the Resy and lululemon available, probably stimulated some spend. And also, any color on kind of the strength of demand on the Consumer product versus the Business?

Question: Donald Fandetti - Wells Fargo Securities LLC - Analyst : Hi, good morning. Steve, can you dig in a bit on what you're seeing in SME? Obviously, it's good to see the uptick. Is that organic growth, or is this just sort of bouncing around? And do you see any scenarios where that could normalize as you look out to 2026? There's also some fintech competition.

Question: Craig Maurer - FT Partners - Analyst : Yeah hi, good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. Wanted to ask first, when you look at the Platinum Card refresh, I was curious how much of that you think has been with consumers or businesses that have high-end cards with other issuers already or upgrades within your own portfolio, trying to ascertain the degree to which this investment is creating a competitive takeaway from others. And second, if you could just talk about the International strength and where you saw that most outside the US, and where you might still be lacking in terms of coverage. Thanks.

Question: Erika Najarian - UBS AG - Analyst : Hi, good morning. Christophe, if I could just dig into Ryan's question a little bit. Thank you so much for taking us through the sort of lifespan of the increase in card fees two years after the refresh. It's fully baked in. 12 months after the new card fee, it will peak. I'm wondering if you could walk us through in terms of the same pacing, in terms of the step-up in related expenses. Is it -- would it be the heaviest over the next like three to four quarters, and then it would subside in the next -- in the back half of, let's say, '27? That walk would be helpful.

Question: Brian Foran - Truist Securities - Analyst : Hey, maybe piggybacking a little on Craig's question. If I think about the tiering of Gold, Platinum, and Black, now that there's more dining on Platinum, are you seeing any interactions with Gold that you would call out? And then on the other side, is there a white space available for some enhanced or new -- even new card between Platinum and Black now that it's clear that a lot of consumers will jump at a pretty high annual fee? LSEG STREETEVENTS | www.lseg.com | Contact Us consent of LSEG. 'LSEG' and the LSEG logo are registered trademarks of LSEG and its affiliated companies. OCTOBER 17, 2025 / 12:30PM, AXP.N - Q3 2025 American Express Co Earnings Call

Question: Richard Shane - JPMorgan Chase & Co - Analyst : Hey, guys. Thanks. I'd kind of like to follow up related to Erika's question, particularly related to retention offers as you -- as the new higher fees roll out. I assume that that really sort of cascades over 12 months. And I'm curious how we should think about, perhaps, what percentage of customers take retention offers or request retention offers; and if you expect that that response rate is going to be higher or lower this time based on the initial responses you've seen?

Question: Mihir Bhatia - Bofa Merrill Lynch Asset Holdings Inc - Analyst : Good morning, and thank you for taking my question. I was wondering if you could spend a couple of minutes on marketing spend and how you're thinking about that, not just into 4Q, but also just longer term or into 2026. I guess, for 4Q, I suspect you want to continue to support the Platinum refresh. But any details you can provide on where that $6 billion-ish of annualized spend is going? Maybe just give us a peek under the hood. How much is broad-based sponsorships, brand building versus like more micro, like the Card Member bonuses, retention type stuff? Thank you.

Question: Moshe Orenbuch - Cowen and Company LLC - Analyst : Great. Thanks. You've kind of answered both the question about card fees and spending in terms of the refresh. Is there some sort of like a vintage-like performance in terms of spend volumes and therefore, the key revenue driver that you could share with us like as you kind of bring on both from new accounts and from higher spend from existing accounts? Any ways to think about that over the next several quarters?

Question: Robert Wildhack - Bernstein Autonomous LLP - Analyst : Hi, guys. One more on Platinum. The $3 billion figure in partner-offered value was an interesting one. As you've gone through this refresh cycle and maybe looking back over the last few cycles, refresh cycles now, too, I mean, how has that partner receptivity changed with respect to co-funding credits and rewards? And then is there anything unique or different between the products like to call out on the same theme as you compare the Gold refresh to the Platinum refresh?