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’Amex to buy Revolution Money
American Express on Wednesday said it would purchase Revolution Money, an online payments business set up by former AOL chief Steve Case. The $300m deal gives Amex, known as the premium credit card provider with the highest fees,
AmEx president to step down
American Express announced on Monday that Alfred Kelly, the company’s president, will step down early next year in order to pursue a position elsewhere as chief executive, clearly indicating that Ken Chenault,
US to announce 10 banks to repay Tarp
The US Treasury is preparing to announce Tuesday that it will allow 10 banks to buy back government shares, signalling confidence that some of the largest US lenders will not require further taxpayer rescue,
Fed dismisses Tarp objections
US regulators insisted that JPMorgan Chase and American Express raise equity this week before repaying bail-out funds, despite objections from the banks, which claimed they did not need the money. The Fed imposed the requirement on JPMorgan and Amex because they were the only institutions that had passed recent “stress tests” but had not yet raised equity,
JPMorgan, Amex push to repay Tarp
JPMorgan Chase and American Express both plan to sell ordinary shares as a way to satisfy conditions for repaying loans from the US government’s TARP scheme. JPMorgan, which received $25bn in Tarp funds,
Amex to slash 4,000 jobs
American Express on Monday said it plans to eliminate 4,000 jobs, or 6% of its workforce, as the weakened economy causes higher customer defaults, reports Reuters. The cuts are part of Amex’s plan to save $800m in 2009 and are in addition to 7,000 job cuts and an expected $1.8bn of savings from a restructuring announced in October.
Amex sells $3bn of debt
American Express sold $3bn of debt on Wednesday without a federal guarantee to help the credit card issuer repay government bailout funds. AmEx joins a string of banks, including JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs,
Stress tests fuel bank rally
US financial stocks soared on Wednesday on investor relief that capital shortfalls identified by the government’s “stress tests” of 19 large banks were not as big as some had feared. The bank rally took off as news of the test results leaked out ahead of their official release on Thursday.
BofA, CCB and capitalism with Chinese characteristics
So yet another big western bank is moving to sell down some of its Chinese bank investments, according to the FT’s report on Wednesday that Bank of America is considering the sale of an $8bn stake in China Construction Bank.
Allianz, Amex sell $1.9bn ICBC shares
Allianz and American Express on Tuesday sold a combined $1.9bm of shares in ICBC, the world’s largest lender by market cap, as a lockup on half their stakes ended, reports Bloomberg.The sales, to private investors,
Allianz, Amex to cash in ICBC stakes
Two more foreign investors in Chinese banks are expected to cash in lucrative stakes and raise in excess of $2bn this week as lock-in periods end for their holdings in Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
Amex net profit plunges 79%
American Express said its customers reduced spending by 10% in the fourth quarter, sending its quarterly net income down 79% in what the credit-card company’s chief executive called the harshest operating environment “in decades”,
Your not so flexible friend
Just in time for Christmas – the credit card crunch.
Or at least that’s what some analysts are warning. Arch bank slayer Meredith Whitney says the market can expect up to £2tn of available liquidity to be taken away from consumers over the near-term.
How to save yourself — at US taxpayers’ expense
As the bail-outs grow, so does the number of ways to get in on the action. Clearly, one appealing option for a cash-strapped financial company is to metamorphise into a regular US bank, a la Amex, Morgan Stanley and Goldman,
Inflexible friends
Credit cards have been on the horizon for a while as the next sector to be hit, crunchwise. Dare we say credit card debt might even be a subprime bubble in its own right?
UBS is certainly thinking that way.
NYSE Euronext buys rival Amex for $260m
NYSE Euronext on Thursday boosted its presence in US derivatives and exchange-traded funds by agreeing to pay $260m to acquire the American Stock Exchange, putting an end to a century-long rivalry. Coming just weeks into the tenure of Duncan Niederauer as chief executive of NYSE Euronext,