[19] At 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.

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.

[28] 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.

[31] In the 1980s, American Express embarked on an effort to become 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.

[36] 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 the entire scandal.

[37] 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).

Visa offered to pay 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.

[79] 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.

[95] 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.

[111] In October 2017, American Express established a joint venture company, LianTong (连通), in China to operate its payment card brand locally.

[122][123] In March 2019, American Express acquired LoungeBuddy, a provider which offers pay-per-use access to select airport lounges worldwide.

[126] In September 2019, Pedestrian Group acquired American Express Openair Cinemas, which facilitated outdoor showings of films at 10 locations in Australia and New Zealand and was operated by Fairfax Events.

[140] In July 2023, Amex agreed to pay $15 million to the US Treasury to settle an investigation accusing the company of failing to govern and oversee a third-party affiliate and for violation of regulations in efforts to retain small business customers.

[145][146] In January 2025, American Express announced that it will pay about $230 million to settle U.S. criminal and civil probes into alleged deceptive practices in selling credit card and wire transfer products to small business customers.

[150] Citibank, First National Bank of Omaha, USAA, Navy Federal, Synchrony Financial, and US Bancorp issue American Express cards.

[154] After Malden's departure, and as the card assumed importance over the traveler's cheques, American Express continued to use celebrities, such as Mel Blanc and ballerina Cynthia Gregory.

Although he/she gave hints to his/her identity, the star's name was never mentioned except as imprinted on an American Express Card, after which announcer Peter Thomas told viewers how to apply for it.

brand campaign in 2007, both by Ogilvy & Mather,[160] featuring celebrities that use American Express cards including: In 2007, a two-minute black-and-white ad, entitled "Animals" and starring Ellen DeGeneres, won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Commercial.

What would soon capture the attention of marketing departments of major corporations was that the promotion generated approximately a 28% increase in American Express card usage by consumers.

The agreement includes naming rights over Falmer Stadium, Brighton training facilities and shirt sponsorship over the kits of the men's, women's, youth and disability teams[186][187] In May 2024, American Express became the official partner of F1 Academy, a female-only single-seater racing series founded by Formula One, for the 2024 season.

The partnership deal include American Express' branding to appear on Jessica Edgar's car livery and driver suit.

After the September 11 attacks, American Express had to leave its headquarters temporarily because it was located directly opposite the World Trade Center and was damaged during the fall of the towers.

American Express has several offices in the UK, including a European Service Center in the Carlton Hill area of Brighton, England.

It replaced American Express's former building, Amex House, a large white tower block built in 1977 and surrounded by several other smaller offices around the city.

Official Europe, Middle East, and Africa HQ is located in the Belgravia district of Westminster, in central London, at Belgrave House on Buckingham Palace Road, SW1; other UK offices are based in Sussex at Burgess Hill and Manchester.

[193] In November 2009, Brighton and Hove City Council granted planning permission for American Express to redevelop the Amex House site.

Its two centers are located at Gurgaon, Haryana (Cyber City) and Bangalore, Karnataka (Bagmane capital).The Indian operations of American Express revolve around the back office customer services operations apart from the credit card business for the domestic Indian Economy, arguably the American Express campus in Gurgaon is the largest employee location by headcount for Amex and supports business continuity objectives of Amex including during Hurricane Sandy, the center works 24/7 and includes a co-located second building which was recently[when?]