Net income nearly halved
American Express reported a 48% drop in income from continuing operation to $342m in the second quarter compared to $660m for the same period in 2008.
The commercial card and services company said its net income for the three months ending on June 30 also fell by 48% from $653m in2008 to $337m.
Its Global Commercial Services division which includes its business travel operation reported Q2 net income of $71m, compared to $227m a year ago.
The latest slump in income follows a 72% drop in the last quarter of 2008 and a 58% drop in Q1 2009 from $1bn in 2008 to $443m.
After the Q1 results, Amex announced an $800m saving plan which included 4,000 redundancies - 6% of its workforce.
Amex said revenue in the commercial services division dropped 23% to $1bn which reflected "spending by corporate card members and lower travel commissions and fees."
It said during the quarter in the division, expenses fell by 10%, marketing and card member services by 25% and staff costs by 8%.
Kenneth Chenault, chairman and ceo of the Amex group, said: "We continued to deliver on our three 2009 priorities by staying liquid, staying profitable and investing selectively in key business initiatives this quarter.
"Despite continued weakness in cardmember spending and historically high levels of loan losses, we generated $342m of earnings from continuing operations, strengthened our capital base and further expanded our deposit gathering initiatives.
"Our results benefited from successful reengineering efforts and from a diverse business model that combines the roles of card issuer, network and merchant processor."
Mr Chenault added that while it was "still too early to point to any sure signs of an economic recovery, the number of card members who are falling behind in their payments, the volume of bankruptcy filings and the level of loan write-offs were better than we had expected."
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