American Express 2011 Annual Report Download - page 13

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R
Accelerate growth outside the United States
—
Our international businesses
delivered record profits in 2011. Right now, some of our most creative thinking
about product features, benefits, services and co-brand partnerships is coming
out of our international markets. We see plenty of opportunity to grow our
proprietary card and Global Network Services businesses, while alternative
categories such as prepaid and mobile can help us expand our presence in
countries where traditional payments systems are lessestablished.
Make significant progress within Enterprise Growth
—
As I described earlier,
we are making good progress toward developing alternative payments and
revenue streams, with plenty of potentialahead.
Broaden our customer base
—
In particular, we want to welcome in more women,
minorities and younger customers. Many of our eorts in digital payments are
designed for these groups, as are eorts to give millennials who have thin credit
histories a path into ourfranchise.
We’ve set an ambitious agenda. And we know we need to move fast, be flexible
and challenge conventional thinking. We did those things in 2011, but we will
have to do even more in the months and years ahead. Our progress over the past
few years and our sense of urgency make me confident that we can reach new
levels ofsuccess.
+ THANK YOU
Last spring marked my 10th anniversary as chairman and CEO of American
Express. I took the opportunity to reflect on how blessed I am to have this
incredible job, working with people who inspire me every day. And then I realized
some thanks were inorder.
I would like to thank our customers, those who feel a passionate connection to
our brand, as well as those who think we can do better. I learn from you and am
honored to serveyou.
I thank all of our employees around the world, who are the heart and soul of
American Express. It’s my privilege to leadyou.
I thank our shareholders, who place their confidence in American Express. We
will do our best to continue to earn yourtrust.
To Our Shareholders
Investments and
Eciency
Our Transformation
The Digital
Convergence
A Challenging
Environment
Thank You
AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY
11