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71-732: The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) was formed by American Express , Discover Financial Services , JCB International , MasterCard and Visa Inc. on September 7, 2006, with the goal of managing the ongoing evolution of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard . The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) consists of twelve significant requirements including multiple sub-requirements, which contain numerous directives against which businesses may measure their own payment card security policies, procedures and guidelines. To address rising cybersecurity risks to

142-620: A terracotta seal with the American Express Eagle. In 1890–91 the company constructed a new ten-story building by Edward H. Kendall on the site of its former headquarters on Hudson Street . By 1903, the company had assets of some $ 28 million, second only to the National City Bank of New York among financial institutions in the city. To reflect this, the company purchased the Broadway buildings and site. At

213-592: A 4.61% worldwide market share by payment volume in 2022, compared to 38.73% for Visa and 24% for Mastercard. While American Express credit cards are accepted at 99% of US merchants that accept credit cards ( Costco being a notable exception), they are much less accepted in Europe and Asia. American Express offers various types of cards including travel and dining cards, everyday spending points cards, and cash back cards. Each category has several card options with different benefits and reward structures. High-profile cards like

284-672: A better solution than the letter of credit. Berry introduced the American Express Traveler's Cheque which was launched in 1891 in denominations of $ 10, $ 20, $ 50, and $ 100. Traveler's cheques established American Express as a truly international company. In 1914, at the onset of World War I , American Express in Europe was among the few companies to honor the letters of credit (issued by various banks) held by Americans in Europe, because other financial institutions refused to assist these stranded travelers. The British government appointed American Express its official agent at

355-724: A financial services holding company and made several acquisitions, creating an investment banking arm. In mid-1981 it purchased Sanford I. Weill 's Shearson Loeb Rhoades , the second-largest securities firm in the United States to form Shearson/American Express . Shearson Loeb Rhoades itself was the culmination of several mergers in the 1970s as Weill's Hayden, Stone & Co. merged with Shearson, Hammill & Co. in 1974, to form Shearson Hayden Stone . Shearson Hayden Stone then merged with Loeb, Rhoades, Hornblower & Co. (formerly Loeb, Rhoades & Co. ) to form Shearson Loeb Rhoades in 1979. With capital totaling $ 250 million at

426-595: A lifetime membership, while in Asia and Europe this is usually impossible. Membership fees are sometimes discounted for elite members of an airline's frequent flyer program and may often be paid using miles. Certain high-end credit cards associated with an airline or lounge network, such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Delta Reserve, and United MileagePlus Club credit cards, include membership to Priority Pass and associated lounge access for as long as one owns

497-534: A local bank card clearing business license in China. In a court case Ohio v. American Express Co. (2018), merchants filed a class action lawsuit against American Express and claimed that charging high fees to merchants is a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act . According to the lawsuit, American Express charges significantly higher fees than other credit card providers. In January 2017,

568-896: A passenger who has a lounge membership in an airline in one of the three major airline alliances ( Oneworld , SkyTeam , or Star Alliance ) may have access to the lounges of the other members of that alliance. For example, Qantas Club membership provides access to the Admirals Club lounges due to a reciprocal arrangement with American Airlines; similarly, a member of the United Club or other Star Alliance members can access lounges of Air Canada and Air New Zealand . It is, however, not uncommon for non-alliance members to agree individually to allow usage of each other's lounges. For example, although Alaska Airlines operates just nine Alaska Lounges, its members have access to American Airlines Admirals Club (and vice versa). While Alaska Airlines

639-540: A result of antitrust litigation brought by the United States Department of Justice . In January 2004, American Express reached a deal to have its cards issued by MBNA . Initially decried by Mastercard executives as nothing but an "experiment", the cards were issued beginning in October 2004. An agreement was reached regarding the acquisition of MBNA by Bank of America whereby Bank of America owned

710-414: A tightly controlled, single-use card number. In March 2008, Standard Chartered Bank acquired American Express Bank Ltd, the international banking subsidiary of American Express for $ 823 million. On November 10, 2008, during the 2007–2008 financial crisis , the company received Federal Reserve System approval to convert to a bank holding company , making it eligible for government assistance under

781-995: A token rate (e.g. $ 1 per drink). Other amenities typically include flight information monitors, televisions, newspapers, and magazines, plus business centers with desks, internet workstations, telephones, photocopiers and fax services. Complimentary wireless Internet access for patrons is also common. In Asia, Europe and the Middle East, lounges (especially those for first class passengers) can be quite luxurious, offering an extensive premium open bar, full hot and cold buffet meals, cigar rooms, spa and massage services, fitness centers, private cabanas, nap suites and showers. Some lounges have pool tables as amenities. Additionally, there are wireless charging stations in lounges, at some airports in London, installed by Nokia . Facilities similar to airport lounges can be found in large train stations (such as Amtrak 's ClubAcela lounges or

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852-668: Is one of the largest US banks , and is ranked 77th on the Fortune 500 and 28th on the list of the most valuable brands by Forbes . In 2023, it was ranked 63rd in the Forbes Global 2000 . Amex also owns a direct bank . Founded in 1850 as a freight forwarding company, Amex introduced financial and travel services during the early 1900s. It developed its first paper charge card in 1958, gold card in 1966, green card in 1969, platinum card in 1984, and Centurion Card in 1999. The "Don't Leave Home Without It" advertising campaign

923-676: Is an American bank holding company and multinational financial services corporation that specializes in payment cards . It is headquartered at 200 Vesey Street , also known as American Express Tower, in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan . Amex is the fourth-largest card network globally based on purchase volume, behind China UnionPay , Visa , and Mastercard . 141.2 million Amex cards were in force worldwide as of December 31, 2023, with an average annual spend per card member of US$ 24,059. That year, Amex handled over $ 1.7 trillion in purchase volume on its network. Amex

994-607: Is expanding its own line of lounges. Besides offering more comfortable seating, lounges usually provide complimentary alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages , and light snacks such as fruit, cheese, soup, pastries and breakfast items. In the United States and Canada, nearly all domestic lounges offer an open bar for domestic beer, house wine and well liquor. In the United States, premium beverages such as imported beer, top-shelf liquor, high end wines and champagne are often available for purchase. In U.S. states where open bars are prohibited by law, non-premium beverages may be sold at

1065-704: Is now part of the Oneworld alliance, this arrangement predated their membership. Several credit card companies offer their own branded lounges accessible to certain cardholders. American Express operates Centurion Lounges in the United States as well as HKG . JPMorgan Chase and Capital One have announced plans to open their own lounges for cardholders. Private companies, such as Airport Dimensions by Collinson Group, Aspire Lounges by Swissport , Plaza Premium Lounge, and Global Lounge Network, also operate generic pay-per-use lounges. In contrast to airline lounges, these facilities are open to any traveller traversing

1136-816: Is usually only available to passengers on intercontinental or transcontinental flights. Pay-per-use lounges can be accessed by anyone, irrespective of airline or flight class. Some offer further benefits when booking directly with them rather than through a reseller. Independent programs, such as Collinson's Priority Pass , offer access to selected airline lounges for an annual fee, while Go Simply, Holiday Extras, LoungePass, and some offerings by independent and airline lounge programs offer pay per use and/or prebookable access without need for membership. Premium credit and charge cards may also offer lounge programs for members. Some banks, like ABN Amro and HSBC , offer lounge access for premium clients. American Express also offers access to lounges belonging to Priority Pass and

1207-538: The American Bureau of Shipping , a maritime concern (1977–86), and later J.J. Kenny, and Standard & Poor's , the latter of which renamed the building for itself. American Express extended its reach nationwide by arranging affiliations with other express companies (including Wells Fargo – the replacement for the two former companies that merged to form American Express), railroads, and steamship companies. In 1857, American Express started its expansion in

1278-553: The American Railway Express Agency formed in July 1918. The new entity took custody of all the pooled equipment and property of existing express companies (the largest share of which, 40%, came from American Express, who had owned the rights to the express business over 71,280 miles (114,710 km) of railroad lines, and had 10,000 offices, with over 30,000 employees). American Express executives discussed

1349-466: The DB Lounge offered by Deutsche Bahn ), mainly for first-class inter-city rail , high-speed rail or night train passengers. In the case of Frankfurt Airport and Frankfurt Airport long-distance station both the airport and the train station serving it have lounges for their respective premium passengers. Given that DB and Lufthansa offer combined air-rail alliance tickets, it is possible for

1420-694: The Tribeca section of Manhattan. For years it enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the movement of express shipments (goods, securities, currency, etc.) throughout New York State. In 1874, American Express moved its headquarters to 65 Broadway in what was becoming the Financial District of Manhattan, a location it was to retain through two buildings. In 1854, the American Express Co. purchased a lot on Vesey Street in New York City as

1491-648: The Troubled Asset Relief Program . At that time, American Express had total consolidated assets of about $ 127 billion. In June 2009, $ 3.39 billion in TARP funds were repaid plus $ 74.4 million in dividend payments. In July 2009, the company ended its obligations under TARP by buying back $ 340 million in Treasury warrants. As part of the conversion, the company reduced or closed many business lines of credit. In 2009, American Express introduced

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1562-478: The $ 226 million credit card portfolio of Bank of Hawaii , then a division of Pacific Century Financial Corporation In January 2006, American Express sold its Bank of Hawaii card portfolio to Bank of America ( MBNA ). Until 2004, Visa and Mastercard rules prohibited issuers of their cards from issuing American Express cards in the United States. This meant, as a practical matter, that U.S. banks could not issue American Express cards. These rules were struck down as

1633-800: The 1980s, began accepting cards using the Visa and Mastercard payment networks. In 2011, Amex launched the Blue Cash Preferred Card credit card. In October 2012, The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) required three American Express subsidiaries to refund an estimated $ 85 million to approximately 250,000 customers for illegal card practices between 2003 and 2012. Allegations included that American Express made misleading statements regarding signup bonuses, charged unlawful late fees, discriminated against applicants due to age, and failed to report consumer complaints to regulators. Also in October 2012, American Express and Walmart announced

1704-532: The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling that American Express could block merchants that accept its cards from steering customers to other cards, like those offered by Visa and Mastercard. In June 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed the 2nd Circuit's ruling. In 2018, the Gold Card was converted to a credit card for UK residents, but remains a charge card in

1775-571: The American Express Travelers Cheque Card, a stored-value card that serves the same purposes as a traveler's cheque, but can be used in stores like a credit card. Amex discontinued the card in October 2007. On September 30, 2005, American Express completed the corporate spin-off of its American Express Financial Advisors unit, Ameriprise Financial , to its shareholders and RSM McGladrey acquired American Express Tax & Business Services (TBS). In 2006,

1846-618: The American Express network. American Express was, at the time, known for cutting its interchange fee to merchants and restaurants if they accepted only American Express and no other credit or charge cards. This prompted competitors such as Visa and Mastercard to file complaints as the tactics gave Amex exclusivity at restaurants. Capitalizing on this elitist image, American Express frequently mentioned such exclusive partnerships in its advertising. Aside from some holdouts including Neiman Marcus , which continued exclusivity until 2011,

1917-526: The Costco card accounts was significant; in the first quarter without Costco cards, company profit dropped 10% and revenue dropped 5% compared to the previous year. On March 1, 2017, ANZ announced that it was no longer issuing American Express cards, with them phased out entirely by August 5, 2017. In October 2017, American Express established a joint venture company, LianTong ( 连通 ), in China to operate its payment card brand locally. In June 2020, it obtained

1988-465: The European/Asian concept of an airport lounge. In the few cases where an amenity is offered only in the business class lounge, first class passengers are permitted to use the business lounge if they wish. In any case, anyone with first class lounge access almost automatically has access to the business class lounge—such as if a traveling companion is not in first class and cannot be brought into

2059-460: The Fee Party's legal bills, and Discover Card was able to increase their acceptance among Boston restaurants by 375%. Kenneth Chenault , then head of Travel Related Services prior to becoming American Express CEO, cut fees to bring these restaurants back into the fold. American Express then shifted its focus from exclusivity to broadening acceptance, adding mainstream merchants like Walmart to

2130-499: The First World War, the 21-story neo-classical American Express Co. Building was constructed in 1916–17 to the design of James L. Aspinwall, of the firm of Renwick, Aspinwall & Tucker, the successor to the architectural practice of James Renwick Jr. The building consolidated the two lots of the former buildings with a single address: 65 Broadway . This building was part of the "Express Row" section of lower Broadway at

2201-575: The Green, Gold, and Platinum cards cater to frequent travelers and diners with perks tailored to these activities. In 1850, American Express was started as a freight forwarding company in Buffalo, New York . It was founded as a joint-stock corporation by the merger of the cash-in-transit companies owned by Henry Wells (Wells & Company), William G. Fargo (Livingston, Fargo & Company), and John Warren Butterfield (Wells, Butterfield & Company,

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2272-551: The ICC was drawn to its strict control of the railroad express business. However, the solution did not come immediately to hand. The solution to this problem came as a coincidence to other problems during World War I. During the winter of 1917, the United States suffered a severe coal shortage and on December 26 President Woodrow Wilson commandeered the railroads on behalf of the United States government to move federal troops, their supplies, and coal. Treasury Secretary William Gibbs McAdoo

2343-636: The PCI Security Standards Council include an Executive Committee of six major payment brands: American Express , Discover Financial Services , JCB International , MasterCard , Visa Inc. , and UnionPay . The executives and management of the PCI SSC are supported by 30 companies comprising the Board of Advisors, and other stakeholder advisory groups such as assessor companies and regional boards. Interested parties can participate in

2414-458: The Shearson family, creating Shearson Lehman/American Express. Lehman CEO and former trader Lewis Glucksman became CEO of Shearson Lehman/American Express. In 1984, Shearson/American Express acquired Investors Diversified Services (IDS), bringing with it a fleet of financial advisors and investment products. In 1988, Shearson Lehman acquired the E.F. Hutton & Co. , a brokerage firm that

2485-889: The UK division of American Express joined the Product Red coalition and issued a Red Card, donating with each purchase through The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to help African women and children with HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases. In late 2007, the company announced the Plum Card for small business owners. In March 2008, American Express acquired the Corporate Payment Services business of General Electric , which primarily focused on providing purchasing card solutions for large global clients, for $ 1.1 billion in cash. The transaction added V-Payment to its product portfolio. V-Payment enables

2556-600: The US. Airport lounge The American Airlines Admirals Club was the first airport lounge when it opened at New York City's La Guardia Airport , in 1939. Then AA president, C. R. Smith , conceived it as a promotional tool. Airlines operate airline lounges as a service to premium passengers, usually passengers flying first class and business class , with high level frequent flyer status, and premium travel credit card memberships. Most major carriers have one or more lounges in their hubs and focus cities as well as in

2627-644: The United States, and in 2015 in Canada, Costco ended its relationship with Amex that had provided co-branded Costco membership cards since 2004. The cards issued by Costco in the United States were an extension of an exclusive deal between Costco and American Express dating from 1999. Costco was the last major US merchant that accepted American Express cards exclusively. Costco's Canadian stores ended its exclusive deal with American Express in January 2015, in favor of one with Capital One and Mastercard. Citigroup became

2698-625: The ZYNC charge card, a white card targeting young adults. The card was later discontinued. In November 2010, the UK division of American Express was cautioned by the Office of Fair Trading for the use of controversial charging orders against those in debt. The company was one of four companies who were allegedly encouraging customers to turn their unsecured credit card debts into a form of secured debt. In November 2011, Neiman Marcus , which gave general-purpose card exclusivity to American Express since

2769-577: The airport, regardless of class of ticket or airline, subject to payment of a fee. Most only offer day passes, but some also offer yearly and lifetime memberships. Access to the lounges can be booked via online platforms such as LoungeBuddy or, in limited cases, one-day passes can be purchased directly at the lounge entrance. For many airlines, a first class lounge will also be offered to international first class and top-tier passengers. First class lounges are usually more exclusive and will feature extra amenities over business class that are more in line with

2840-575: The area of financial services by launching a money order business to compete with the United States Post Office 's money orders. Sometime between 1888 and 1890, J. C. Fargo took a trip to Europe and returned frustrated and infuriated. Despite the fact that he was president of American Express and that he carried with him traditional letters of credit , he found it difficult to obtain cash anywhere except in major cities. Fargo went to Marcellus Flemming Berry and asked him to create

2911-586: The bank. Safra then opened a competing bank. In response, American Express launched an international smear campaign against Safra by inaccurately reporting to news and media outlets in that Safra was being investigated by the FBI for being involved in the Iran–Contra affair , along with drug trafficking and the mafia. All of the accusations were confirmed to be false and led to the resignation of Harry L. Freeman, public relations chief of American Express, after admitting to

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2982-479: The beginning of World War I. They were to deliver letters, money, and relief parcels to British prisoners of war. Their employees went into camps to cash drafts for both British and French prisoners and arranged for them to receive money from home. By the end of the war they were delivering 150 tonnes of parcels per day to prisoners in six countries. In 1915, American Express established a travel division and soon established its first travel agency . Albert K. Dawson

3053-571: The budding Financial District and into rented offices in two five-story brownstone commercial buildings at 63 and 65 Broadway that were owned by the Harmony family. In 1880, American Express built a new warehouse behind the Broadway Building at 46 Trinity Place. The designer is unknown, but it has a façade of brick arches that are reminiscent of pre-skyscraper New York. American Express has long been out of this building, but it still bears

3124-629: The card. Lounge access can also be attained with an airline status card, which is common in Europe. The top frequent-flyer levels often offer access to any of an airline's lounges or partner airlines' lounges, when traveling in any class of travel on any of the partner airlines (usually it is required for the cardholder to be booked on one of the carrier's flights within the next 24 hours). Most airlines also usually offer free lounge access to anyone in their premium cabins ( first class or business class ) on their days of travel; in North America this

3195-439: The company. In 1979, American Express acquired 50% of the cable subsidiary of Warner Communications , forming Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment , for $ 175 million in cash and short-term notes. It owned two-thirds of MTV , Nickelodeon , and The Movie Channel . The venture was unprofitable, and, in 1985, Amex sold its 50% interest to Viacom for $ 450 million. In the 1980s, American Express embarked on an effort to become

3266-506: The customer loans and American Express processed the transactions. American Express dismissed Bank of America from its antitrust litigation against Visa, Mastercard, and other banks. The first card from the partnership, the Bank of America Rewards American Express card, was released on June 30, 2006. In June 2005, American Express introduced ExpressPay, a contactless payment system based on wireless RFID . In July 2005, American Express issued

3337-563: The development of the PCI security standards through member registration as a Participating Organization. Currently, there are more than 700 Participating Organizations from more than 60 countries. These participants are organized into Special Interest Groups, which are tasked with recommending revisions to and the further development of the various security standards maintained by the PCI SSC. PCI DSS Compliance Requirement Checklist American Express The American Express Company or Amex

3408-468: The end of the Wells-Fargo reign in 1914, an aggressive new president, George Chadbourne Taylor (1868–1923), who had worked his way up through the company over the previous thirty years, decided to build a new headquarters. The old buildings, dubbed by The New York Times as "among the ancient landmarks" of lower Broadway, were inadequate for such a rapidly expanding concern. After some delays due to

3479-483: The entire scandal. In July 1989, American Express publicly apologized to Edmond Safra and donated $ 8 million to the charity of his choice. In 1990, American Express sold its Swiss banking operations to Compagnie de Banque et d'Investissements, which led to the creation of Union Bancaire Privée (UBP). In 1984, Amex launched the Platinum Card, billed as an "ultra-exclusive" credit card with a $ 250 annual fee. It

3550-536: The exclusive issuer of Costco's credit cards and Visa replaced American Express as the exclusive credit card accepted at Costco's stores in the United States. All TrueEarnings card accounts and balances held by American Express were sold to Citigroup, and new Costco Anywhere Visa cards were sent to Costco members prior to the switch date. The Costco partnership represented 8%, or $ 80 billion, of American Express' billed business and about 20%, or about $ 14 billion, of its interest-bearing credit portfolio. The impact of losing

3621-423: The first class lounge as a guest. In most cases, airlines will offer first class passengers a free pass to their standard airport club. Some airlines offer "arrival lounges" for passengers to shower, rest, and eat after a long-haul international flight. Access to airport lounges may be obtained in several ways. In Australia, Canada, and the United States, a common method to gain access is by purchasing an annual or

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3692-499: The high-fee Centurion Card , often referred to as the "black card," which caters to an even more affluent customer segment. The card was initially available only to select users of the Platinum card. American Express created the card line amid rumors and urban legends in the 1980s that it produced an ultra-exclusive black card for elite users who could purchase anything with it. In December 2000, American Express agreed to acquire

3763-603: The launch of Bluebird, a prepaid debit card with roadside assistance and identity theft protection that can also be used as a substitute for a traditional transactional account whereby users can have payments deposited to the account and have insurance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation . In October 2013, Amex sold most of its publications: Travel + Leisure , Food & Wine , Executive Travel , Black Ink , and Departures magazines, to Time Inc. Time restructured

3834-507: The major airports they serve. The major US airlines— American ( Admirals Club ), Delta ( Delta Sky Club ), and United ( United Club )—operate dozens of lounges, while smaller airlines like Alaska Airlines (Alaska Lounge) tend to only operate a handful of lounges in their hub and focus cities. Airlines outside of Australia and North America generally do not sell lounge memberships, and instead reserve lounge access exclusively for very frequent flyers and passengers in premium cabins. However,

3905-455: The official launch date. The card was launched with an annual fee of $ 6, $ 1 higher than Diners Club, to be seen as a premium product. The first cards were made of paper, with the account number and card member's name typed. In 1959, American Express became the first company to issue embossed plastic cards. In 1966, American Express introduced the Gold Card for "big-spending members". In 1977, James D. Robinson III became chairman and CEO of

3976-482: The payment ecosystem, the PCI SSC currently manages 15 standards for payment security, which are variously applicable to payment card issuers, merchants and service providers, vendors and solution providers, and acquirers and processors. More recently, the PCI SSC has collaborated with EMVCo , to provide the security requirements, testing procedures and assessor training to support the EMV 3-D Secure v2.0 standard. Members of

4047-472: The possibility of launching a travel charge card as early as 1946, but it was not until Diners Club launched a card in March 1950, that American Express began to seriously consider the possibility. At the end of 1957, under American Express CEO Ralph Reed the company entered the business and by the launch date of October 1, 1958, public interest had become so significant that 250,000 cards were issued prior to

4118-460: The practice largely ended in 1991. In April 1992, American Express spun off First Data in an initial public offering . In 1993, Harvey Golub became CEO of American Express. That year, American Express negotiated the sale of Shearson's retail brokerage and investment management business to Primerica . The Shearson business was merged with Primerica's Smith Barney to create Smith Barney Shearson . In June 1994, American Express completed

4189-419: The publications, which are now owned by Dotdash Meredith . In 2013, the company opened its first airport lounge, offering access to certain cardmembers. In March 2014, American Express announced the corporate spin-off its corporate travel business as American Express Global Business Travel and the sale of 50% of the business to an investor group led by Certares LP for $ 900 million. Effective in 2016 in

4260-491: The site for its stables. The company's first New York headquarters was an 1858 marble Italianate palazzo at 55–61 Hudson Street , which had a busy freight depot on the ground story with a spur line from the Hudson River Railroad . A stable was constructed in 1867, five blocks north at 4–8 Hubert Street. The company prospered sufficiently that headquarters were moved in 1874 from the wholesale shipping district to

4331-497: The spin-off of the remaining investment banking and institutional businesses as Lehman Brothers , ending its foray into the brokerage business. In September 1994, the Optima True Grace card was introduced. The card was unique in that it offered a grace period on all purchases whether a balance was carried on the card or not, not charging interest on new purchases immediately for cards with unpaid balances. The card

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4402-403: The successor earlier in 1850 of Butterfield, Wasson & Company). Wells and Fargo also started Wells Fargo & Co. in 1852 when Butterfield and other directors objected to the proposal that American Express extend its operations to California. American Express initially established its headquarters in a building at the intersection of Jay Street and Hudson Street in what was later called

4473-559: The time of its acquisition, Shearson Loeb Rhoades was the second-largest brokerage firm , behind Merrill Lynch . After the purchase of Shearson, Weill was given the position of president of American Express in 1983. Weill grew increasingly unhappy with responsibilities within the company and his conflicts with CEO James D. Robinson III . Weill soon realized that he was not positioned to be named CEO and resigned in August 1985. In 1984, American Express acquired Lehman Brothers and added it to

4544-431: The time. The building completed the continuous masonry wall of its block-front and assisted in transforming Broadway into the "canyon" of neo-classical masonry office towers familiar to this day. American Express sold this building in 1975, but retained travel services there. The building was also the headquarters over the years of other prominent firms, including investment bankers J.& W. Seligman & Co . (1940–74),

4615-529: The use of Visa and Mastercard. The rationale was due to far lower fees as compared to American Express' fees at the time (which were about 4% for each transaction versus around 1.2% for Visa and Mastercard). The revolt, known as the "Boston Fee Party" (alluding to the Boston Tea Party ), spread to over 250 restaurants across the United States, including restaurants in other cities such as New York City , Chicago , and Los Angeles . Visa offered to pay

4686-399: Was assigned the task of consolidating the railway lines for the war effort. All contracts between express companies and railroads were nullified and McAdoo proposed that all existing express companies be consolidated into a single company to serve the country's needs. This ended American Express's express business and removed them from the ICC's interest. The result was that a new company called

4757-506: Was discontinued a few years later. In 1998, Amex launched the Blue credit card, targeted at young adults, in the UK after testing it in other countries. The card had a smart chip and users were encouraged to pay bills and get information via the company website. It launched in the US in 1999. A television media campaign for Blue adopted the 1979 UK Synthpop hit " Cars " by Gary Numan as its theme music. In 1999, American Express introduced

4828-603: Was instrumental in expanding business operations overseas, even investing in tourist relations with the Soviet Union . During World War I, Dawson was a photographer and film correspondent with the German army. American Express was one of the monopolies that President Theodore Roosevelt had the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) investigate during his administration (1901–1909). The interest of

4899-516: Was introduced in 1975 and renewed in 2005. In the 1980s, Amex acquired and then divested a stake in Shearson . In the 1990s, it stopped reducing interchange fees for merchants who exclusively accepted Amex cards and expanded market share through targeted marketing campaigns. Amex converted to a bank holding company during the 2007–2008 financial crisis . Amex began operating airport lounges in 2013, offering access to certain cardholders. Amex had

4970-475: Was merged with the investment banking business. The investment banking arm was renamed Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc. In 1983, as part of Robinson's plan to expand into international banking of wealthy clients, Amex acquired Trade Development Bank of Geneva from Edmond Safra for US$ 550 million and Safra became a member of the board of directors of Amex. TDB executives were excluded from important company decisions and Safra unsuccessfully tried to repurchase

5041-564: Was offered by invitation only to American Express customers with at least two years of tenure, significant spending, and excellent payment history. In 1987, American Express introduced the Optima card, its first credit card product that did not have to be paid in full at the end of the month. In 1991, a group of restaurants in Boston , including some that were exclusive to Amex, stopped accepting American Express while accepting and encouraging

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