Strong rise in American Express profits at the beginning of the year

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – American credit card company American Express reported an increase in profits at the beginning of the year.

As wealthy customers prepare to buy and ease recession fears, the financial group increased its profits by 34 percent to $2.44 billion in the first quarter, American Express announced Friday. “We continue to attract customers who are high spenders and have good credit,” said CEO Stephen Squirre. The New York-based company reported earnings of $3.33 per share, compared to $2.40 per share the previous year.

Changes in consumer behavior have so far had little impact on credit card companies, and fears of an economic downturn have largely been overcome. In doing so, American Express bucked the general trend toward somewhat lower consumer expectations. However, eleven interest rate increases by the US Federal Reserve have increased the risk of loan defaults in the financial sector. American Express increased its allowance for potential loan losses to $1.3 billion in the first quarter from $1.1 billion a year ago. Revenues rose 11% to $15.8 billion.

(Reporting by Mehnaz Yasmin, Niket Nishan, Frank Seppelt; Editing by Mireya Mildenberger; If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at [email protected] (for politics and economics) or [email protected] (for business and markets) ).)