American Express 2009 Annual Report Download - page 37

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2009 FINANCIAL REVIEW
AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
U.S. billed business and billed business outside the United
States were down 10 percent and 8 percent, respectively, in
2009. The decline in billed business within the United States
reflected a decrease in basic cards-in-force and average
spending per proprietary basic card. The decline in billed
business outside the United States reflected a decrease in
average spending per proprietary basic card and decreases
within the Company’s consumer card, small business and
Corporate Services business.
The table below summarizes selected statistics for billed business and average spend:
2009 2008
Percentage Increase
(Decrease)
Percentage Increase
(Decrease) Assuming
No Changes in
Foreign Exchange
Rates(f)
Percentage Increase
(Decrease)
Percentage Increase
(Decrease) Assuming
No Changes in
Foreign Exchange
Rates(f)
Worldwide(a)
Billed business (9)% (7)% 6% 5%
Proprietary billed business (11) (9) 43
GNS volumes(b) 71127 27
Average spending per proprietary basic card (7) (5) (1) (1)
United States(a)
Billed business (10) 3
Average spending per proprietary basic card (6) (3)
Proprietary consumer card billed business(c) (10) (1)
Proprietary small business billed business(c) (13) 7
Proprietary Corporate Services billed business(d) (11) 4
Outside the United States(a)
Billed business (8) (1) 13 12
Average spending per proprietary basic card (9) (3) 64
Proprietary consumer and small business billed
business(e) (10) (4) 87
Proprietary Corporate Services billed business(d) (19) (12) 98
(a) Captions in the table above not designated as “proprietary” include both proprietary and GNS data.
(b) Included in the GNMS segment.
(c) Included in the USCS segment.
(d) Included in the GCS segment.
(e) Included in the ICS segment.
(f) Refer to footnote 2 on page 34 relating to changes in foreign exchange rates.
Assuming no changes in foreign exchange rates, total billed
business outside the United States reflected mid-single digit
volume increases in Latin America and Asia Pacific, and
mid-single digit declines in Canada and Europe.
During 2008, discount revenue rose $429 million or 3
percent to $15 billion compared to 2007 as a result of a 6
percent increase in worldwide billed business, partially offset
by a lower average discount rate, relatively faster growth in
billed business related to GNS, and higher cash-back rewards
costs and corporate incentive payments, which are reported as
reductions to revenue (contra-revenue). The 6 percent
increase in worldwide billed business in 2008 reflected growth
in proprietary billed business of 4 percent, and a 27 percent
increase in billed business related to GNS.
Net card fees in 2009 remained unchanged compared to
2008 as the decline in total proprietary cards in force was
offset by an increase in the average fee per card. Net card fees
in 2008 of $2.2 billion increased $231 million or 12 percent
compared to 2007 due to higher average fee per proprietary
card.
Travel commissions and fees decreased $416 million or 21
percent to $1.6 billion in 2009 compared to 2008, primarily
reflecting a 28 percent decrease in worldwide travel sales,
partially offset by higher sales commission and fee rates.
35