amex

American Express Company (Amex) 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 cards are primarily categorized in the order of Green, Gold, Platinum, and Black (Centurion), with a higher rank indicating a higher priority level.Amex is the fourth largest card network globally based on purchase volume, behind China UnionPay, Visa, and Mastercard and had 133.3 million cards in force worldwide as of December 31, 2022, with an average spending per card member in 2022 of 23,496. In 2022, it handled over 1.5 trillion in purchase volume on its network. It is on the list of largest banks in the United States. The company is ranked 77th on the Fortune 500 and 28th on the list of the most valuable brands by Forbes. The company also owns a direct bank.
Founded in 1850 as a freight forwarding company, the company introduced financial and travel services to clientele during the early 1900s. American Express 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 was introduced in 1975 and renewed in 2005. In the 1980s, the company acquired and then divested a stake in Shearson. In the 1990s, the company discontinued cutting interchange fees for merchants who exclusively accepted Amex cards and expanded market share through targeted marketing campaigns. Amex converted into a bank holding company during the 2007–2008 financial crisis. Amex began operating airport lounges in 2013, offering access to certain cardholders.
The company's logo, adopted in 1958, is a gladiator or centurion, whose image appears on the company's traveller's cheques, charge cards, and credit cards.Amex had 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 U.S. merchants that accept credit cards (Costco being the notable exception), they are much less accepted in Europe and Asia.

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