American Express 1998 Annual Report Download - page 20

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 20 of the 1998 American Express annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 63

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63

18
United States to pay international vendors in
more than 40 foreign currencies, 24 hours a
day, seven days a week.
Providing financial and tax advice to small
businesses is also part of our drive to be a leader
in meeting the needs of this growing sector. We
acquired an additional 14 accounting firms dur-
ing the year.
Consumer Travel, which is managed with our
Small Business Services unit, achieved strong sales
growth. This was due in part to the acquisition
of Travel Impressions, a major travel packager. In
addition to expanding our position in leisure
travel, this acquisition will enable us to take
advantage of the increasing popularity of vaca-
tion packages.
all indicators — billed business, cards-in-force
and spending per card — up for the year.
Equipment financing is a key lending category
for small business owners. We expanded this
business in 1998 with the acquisition of equip-
ment financing company CapitaFinance, in which
we previously had a 50 percent investment. In
addition, we announced an agreement to purchase
Rockford Industries, a firm that provides point-
of-purchase equipment financing. This transaction
closed in early 1999. We also made a minority
investment in Administaff, which provides pro-
fessional employer services to our small business
customer base.
We introduced an International Payments
site on the Internet to provide a convenient and
cost effective way for small businesses in the
MERCHANT COVERAGE
We continue to increase the number and range of merchants that accept American Express Cards. In the
United States, our merchant network now accommodates more than 94 percent of Cardmembers’ general
purpose plastic spending. In 1998, we made strong gains in signing supermarkets and retail outlets. Outside
the United States, our merchant network now accommodates 83 percent of Cardmembers’ spending.
1996
1997
1998
Outside U.S. Supermarkets Retail Oil T&E
the U.S.
TOTAL PLASTIC SPENDING U.S. BY INDUSTRY
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
(in percents)