New York, March 07, 2012 -- The following release represents Moody's Investors Service's summary
credit opinion on American Express Company and includes certain regulatory
disclosures regarding its ratings. This release does not constitute
any change in Moody's ratings or rating rationale for American Express
Company and its affiliates.
Moody's current ratings on American Express Company and its affiliates
are:
Long Term Issuer Rating of A3
Senior Unsecured (domestic currency) ratings of A3
Subordinate (domestic currency) ratings of Baa2
Senior Unsecured Shelf (domestic currency) ratings of (P)A3
Subordinate Shelf (domestic currency) ratings of (P)Baa1
Preferred Shelf (domestic currency) ratings of (P)Baa2
Preferred shelf -- PS2 (domestic currency) ratings of (P)Baa3
Commercial Paper (domestic currency) ratings of P-2
American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc.
Long Term Issuer Rating of A2
Senior Unsecured MTN Program (domestic currency) ratings of (P)A2
Subordinate MTN Program (domestic currency) ratings of (P)A3
Commercial Paper (domestic currency) ratings of P-1
Other Short Term (domestic currency) ratings of (P)P-1
American Express Credit Corporation
Long Term Issuer rating of A2
Senior Unsecured (domestic and foreign currency) ratings of A2
Senior Unsecured MTN (domestic currency) ratings of (P)A2
Subordinate MTN (domestic currency) ratings of (P)A3
Senior Unsecured Shelf (domestic currency) ratings of (P)A2
Other Short Term (domestic currency) ratings of (P)P-1
BACKED Commercial Paper (domestic currency) ratings of P-1
American Express O/S Credit Corporation Ltd.
Senior Unsecured MTN Program (domestic currency) ratings of (P)A2
Subordinate MTN Program (domestic currency) ratings of (P)A3
Other Short Term (domestic currency) ratings of (P)P-1
American Express Canada Credit Corporation
BACKED Senior Unsecured (domestic currency) ratings of A2
BACKED Senior Unsecured MTN Program (domestic currency) ratings of (P)A2
American Express Centurion Bank
Long Term Issuer Rating of A2
Senior Unsecured (domestic currency) ratings of A2
Long Term Bank Deposits (domestic currency) ratings of A2
Long Term Other Senior Obligations ratings of A2
Bank Financial Strength ratings of C+; BCA A2 | Adj.
BCA A2
Short Term Bank Note Program (domestic currency) ratings of P-1
Short Term Bank Deposits (domestic currency) ratings of P-1
Other Short Term (domestic currency) ratings of (P)P-1
Short Term Other Senior Obligations ratings of P-1
American Express Bank, FSB
Long Term Issuer (domestic currency) rating of A2
Senior Unsecured (domestic currency) ratings of A2
Long Term Bank Deposits (domestic currency) ratings of A2
Long Term Other Senior Obligations (domestic currency) ratings of A2
Bank Financial Strength ratings of C+; BCA A2 | Adj.
BCA A2
Short Term Bank Deposits (domestic currency) ratings of P-1
Short Term Other Senior Obligations (domestic currency) ratings of P-1
RATINGS RATIONALE
The change in outlook to stable reflects Amex's improved liquidity and
funding profile, including a healthy liquidity runway giving it
the financial flexibility to deal with a sustained lack of access to both
capital markets and deposit funding.
The ratings and outlook also reflect the company's other key fundamental
strengths. These include the strength of the American Express brand
as reflected in strong franchises in charge cards and credit cards and
the company's global merchant network, a high proportion of non-spread
income in its revenue base, and solid capital metrics.
Balancing these credit strengths, Amex has a relatively heavy emphasis
on capital markets funding. Moreover, the company remains
sensitive to US consumer and corporate spending patterns, in particular
those of affluent consumers who comprise a substantial portion of total
spending. In addition, Amex faces a continued unsettled political
and regulatory environment, as well as competitive pressures from
evolving technologies -- such as the growing digital payments
market -- that are transforming the global payments industry.
We note that Amex has made inroads in positioning itself in this space
via its Revolution Money acquisition and its recent launch of its Serve
software-based platform. Amex faces an additional challenge
to its business model in the form of the Department of Justice antitrust
lawsuit filed in October 2010, though this matter will likely take
years to litigate.
Compared to like-rated US banks Amex has a relatively heavy emphasis
on capital markets funding. However, even under baseline
asset growth assumptions the company maintains a healthy liquidity profile
giving it the financial flexibility to deal with a sustained lack of access
to both capital markets and deposit funding. Amex's liquidity cushion
includes a substantial balance of unrestricted cash and readily marketable
securities.
Centurion and FSB are rated C+ for bank financial strength and A2/Prime-1
for senior debt and deposits. Credco's and TRS' senior debt is
rated A2/Prime-1; the parent company's senior debt is rated
A3/Prime-2.
Rating Outlook
The outlook for all ratings and the BFSR is stable.
What Could Change the Rating - Up
Despite progress on the liquidity and funding front, we do not see
the ratings increasing from the current level given the company's funding
structure and significant potential exposure to changes in interchange
rates from competitive and/or regulatory initiatives.
What Could Change the Rating - Down
Significant erosion in the firm's liquidity position; an elevation
in credit costs that is not effectively mitigated by offsetting cost reductions
or revenue gains; material adverse legal/regulatory/legislative outcomes,
thus leading to capital reductions.
The methodologies used in these ratings were Bank Financial Strength Ratings:
Global Methodology published in February 2007, and Moody's
Guidelines for Rating Hybrid Securities and Subordinated Debt published
in November 2009. Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of these methodologies.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
Although these credit ratings have been issued in a non-EU country
which has not been recognized as endorsable at this date, the credit
ratings are deemed "EU qualified by extension" and may still
be used by financial institutions for regulatory purposes until 30 April
2012. Further information on the EU endorsement status and on the
Moody's office that has issued a particular Credit Rating is available
on www.moodys.com.
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
this announcement provides relevant regulatory disclosures in relation
to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the same series
or category/class of debt or pursuant to a program for which the ratings
are derived exclusively from existing ratings in accordance with Moody's
rating practices. For ratings issued on a support provider,
this announcement provides relevant regulatory disclosures in relation
to the rating action on the support provider and in relation to each particular
rating action for securities that derive their credit ratings from the
support provider's credit rating. For provisional ratings,
this announcement provides relevant regulatory disclosures in relation
to the provisional rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive
rating that may be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt,
in each case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed
prior to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would
have affected the rating. For further information please see the
ratings tab on the issuer/entity page for the respective issuer on www.moodys.com.
Information sources used to prepare each of the ratings are the following:
parties involved in the ratings, public information, and confidential
and proprietary Moody's Investors Service information.
Moody's considers the quality of information available on the rated
entities, obligations or credits satisfactory for the purposes of
issuing these ratings.
Moody's adopts all necessary measures so that the information it
uses in assigning the ratings is of sufficient quality and from sources
Moody's considers to be reliable including, when appropriate,
independent third-party sources. However, Moody's
is not an auditor and cannot in every instance independently verify or
validate information received in the rating process.
Please see the ratings disclosure page on www.moodys.com
for general disclosure on potential conflicts of interests.
Please see the ratings disclosure page on www.moodys.com
for information on (A) MCO's major shareholders (above 5%)
and for (B) further information regarding certain affiliations that may
exist between directors of MCO and rated entities as well as (C) the names
of entities that hold ratings from MIS that have also publicly reported
to the SEC an ownership interest in MCO of more than 5%.
A member of the board of directors of this rated entity may also be a
member of the board of directors of a shareholder of Moody's Corporation;
however, Moody's has not independently verified this matter.
Please see Moody's Rating Symbols and Definitions on the Rating
Process page on www.moodys.com for further information on
the meaning of each rating category and the definition of default and
recovery.
Please see ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for the last rating action and the rating history. The date on
which some ratings were first released goes back to a time before Moody's
ratings were fully digitized and accurate data may not be available.
Consequently, Moody's provides a date that it believes is
the most reliable and accurate based on the information that is available
to it. Please see the ratings disclosure page on our website www.moodys.com
for further information.
Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to
the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has
issued the rating.
Curt Beaudouin
Vice President - Senior Analyst
Financial Institutions Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Robert Young
MD - Financial Institutions
Financial Institutions Group
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Moody's Disclosures on Credit Ratings of American Express Company