American Express Company

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the American Express Q1, 2026 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session. If you wish to ask a question, please press star then one on your touchtone phone. You will hear a tone indicating you have been placed in queue. You may remove yourself from the queue at any time by pressing star then two. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up the handset before pressing the numbers. Should you require assistance during the call, please press star, then zero. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to our host, Head of Investor Relations, Mr. Kartik Ramachandran. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Daryl, and thank you all for joining today's call. As a reminder, before we begin, today's discussion contains forward-looking statements about the company's future business and financial performance. These are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these statements are included in today's presentation slides and in our reports on file with the SEC. The discussion today also contains non-GAAP financial measures. The comparable GAAP financial measures are included in this quarter's earnings materials, as well as the earnings materials for the prior periods we discussed. All of these are posted on our website at ir.americanexpress.com. We'll begin today with Steve Squeri, Chairman and CEO, who will start with some remarks about the company's progress and results, and then Christophe Lecayac, Chief Financial Officer, will provide a more detailed review of our financial performance. After that, we'll move to a Q&A session on the results with both Steve and Christophe. With that, let me turn it over to Steve.

Thank you, Karthik. We had a very strong start to the year. Revenue in the quarter grew 11% or 10% on an FX-adjusted basis, and EPS was $4.28, up 18% over the prior year. Card member spending grew 10% on a reported basis, and this is the highest quarterly growth in three years, driven by strong growth across both goods and services and T&E. We continue to see strong demand and engagement with our premium products across our customer base, Within our U.S. platinum portfolio, we're seeing accelerated spend growth following the refresh, while maintaining high retention rates after the fee increase went into effect. Millennial and Gen Z spending growth continues to be robust, and globally over 70% of new accounts are on fee-paying products. International remained our fastest-growing segment, with billings up double digits for the 20th consecutive quarter on an FX-adjusted basis. And consistent with what we've seen for several years, our credit performance continues to be excellent and best in class. Based on our strong results to date and our confidence going forward, we've decided to increase our investments in marketing and technology to capitalize on key growth opportunities and build on our momentum. Looking ahead, we're reaffirming our full year 2026 guidance of 9% to 10% annual revenue growth and EPS of $17.30 to $17.90. While the macro and geopolitical environment remains uncertain, we believe we are well positioned to continue delivering strong results, given our focus on premium customers, our spend and fee-centric model, and very strong portfolio quality. Our performance once again demonstrates the power of our growth strategy as we continue to execute our proven playbook. A key part of the playbook is the ongoing investments we're making to enhance our differentiated membership model, which is fueled by our high spending card members, the value added by our world-class partners, and the innovations in service delivered by our talented colleagues. One of the most compelling features of Amex membership is the unique experiences and access we offer our card members in dining, sports, entertainment, and more. Sports are a powerful engagement engine across our customer base. In Q1, we announced several agreements that added to the relationships we have with over 50 top-tier leagues, teams, venues, and events around the world. In March, we announced a multi-year global partnership with the NFL, making American Express the league's official payments partner beginning with the 2026 season. This broad-based sponsorship includes exclusive card member experiences, ticket access, on-site activations, and other perks at high-profile league events, including the NFL Draft and the Super Bowl. We're very excited about the opportunity to join with the NFL as they expand internationally, with our large global footprint positioning us well to support their growth while engaging Amex card members around the world. We also announced new multi-year sports and entertainment agreements with MetLife Stadium, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and teams that play there. And we renewed our sponsorship with the NBA, along with several agreements with NBA teams across the country. In addition to our sports-sponsored partnerships, we continue to enhance Amex membership with recent openings and plans for newer expanded airport lounges in Las Vegas, Boston, Charlotte, Dallas-Forth Worth, and New Delhi, and the expansion of our fine hotels and resorts and hotel collection programs with an additional 300 properties recently accepted into the program out of an approximately 1,400 who applied. Another key element of our strategy is the ongoing innovation of our product value propositions, and we continued our progress on this front as well. In the quarter, we announced the roadmap for a series of commercial products and solutions that we're planning to roll out in the U.S. in 2026 for businesses of all sizes, starting with the launch of our new Graphite Business Cash Unlimited card. The roadmap includes plans to release eight newer enhanced products, benefits, and capabilities, including a corporate cashback card, and expense management software, making this the most significant one-year commercial product expansion in the company's history. Together, these new offerings will give our business customers what they want, card products that combine high spend capacity and great value, plus an integrated suite of tools that will help them manage expenses and cash flow, gain insights from their spending, and automate day-to-day tasks, all backed by American Express's world-class global customer service. In addition to these announcements, we further the development of our AI capabilities in the quarter. As I said in my recent annual letter to shareholders, while it's still early days, we are embarking on a new era of commerce where AI-powered agents can make autonomous decisions on behalf of consumers and businesses. But in addition to offering speed and convenience, agentic commerce brings added complexity and risk. This plays directly to our strengths of trust, security, and service. Given our closed-loop network that provides an end-to-end view of transactions and supported by the investments we've been making in our technology and risk capabilities, we are well-positioned to deliver intent-driven authorizations, enhanced fraud protection, and strong security features to help protect our card members and merchants. Earlier this month, we introduced the Amex Agentic Commerce Experiences, or ACE Developer Kit, which will enable the integration of American Express cards into AI-powered transactions with trust and control. Along with the kit, we announced Amex Agent Purchase Protection, an industry-first commitment to back our card members by protecting registered agent purchases. We have more AI-powered products and capabilities under development that will roll out this year to help transform and grow our business. This includes upcoming announcements with leading AI companies to make our membership assets discoverable and actionable on their platforms and building proprietary AI-powered experiences across our own platforms. In summary, our business continues to perform at a high level, exhibiting continued momentum from executing our proven strategy and making meaningful progress on the strategic use of AI to drive long-term growth and efficiencies. With our loyal premium customer base, our talented customer-focused colleagues, and a differentiated business model, We are confident in our ability to deliver long-term, sustainable growth. Now I'll turn it over to Christoph for more details about the quarter, and then we'll take your questions.