- Report includes additional workforce diversity disclosures
related to American Express’ pay equity, hiring, retention, and
promotion efforts
- American Express aims to drive $100 billion in spending at
small businesses and invest $500 million on initiatives that
support more resilient and equitable communities
- The company recently committed to net-zero emissions by 2035
and plans to provide $10 million in philanthropic funding to
support initiatives to advance climate solutions
American Express (NYSE: AXP) today announced the release of its
2020-2021 Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report, which
includes a new roadmap for the company’s ESG strategy focused on
three core pillars: Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
(DE&I); Building Financial Confidence; and Advancing Climate
Solutions. The new ESG roadmap outlines long-term goals and
initiatives to drive American Express’ ESG strategy, including the
company’s commitment to net-zero emissions globally by 2035,
announced last week.
This year’s report also includes first-time disclosures,
including diversity representation data on the company’s hiring,
promotions, and colleague retention efforts, as well as the “raw
median pay gap” for women globally and for racially or ethnically
diverse colleagues in the U.S.
“We’ve always believed that our strength comes from the impact
we can make on people’s lives – what we call the powerful backing
of American Express,” said Stephen J. Squeri, Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer. “Over the last year, we’ve made progress on our
commitments across our ESG priorities and set new long-term targets
with actionable initiatives. We also raised the level of
transparency we provide about our progress, particularly on the
DE&I front, which demonstrates the rich, inclusive, and
engaging culture we strive for at American Express.”
Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion American
Express is committed to supporting a diverse, equitable, and
inclusive workforce, marketplace, and society. To further this
objective, the company announced a $1 Billion DE&I Action Plan
in October 2020, which outlined its initiatives to promote
diversity, equity, and inclusion for its colleagues, customers, and
communities. Through mid-2021, the company has spent more than $450
million toward this target, which primarily includes spending with
diverse suppliers, grants, and assistance for Black and
minority-owned businesses, investments in pay equity, and
philanthropic contributions.
In this year’s ESG Report, the company is providing greater
transparency on its progress, building on the enhanced disclosures
and 2020 U.S. EEO-1 data published in the company’s 2021 Interim
ESG update earlier this year.
- Enhancing Transparency on Colleague
Representation: As part of its commitment to balanced
representation throughout the company, American Express provided
additional diversity representation data on its recruitment,
hiring, promotion, and retention efforts. Below are the key new
disclosures related to the composition of American Express
colleagues in 2020:
- Hiring: 48% of new hires globally were women, and 50% of
all U.S. new hires were racially or ethnically diverse.
- Promotions: Among colleagues that received promotions
globally, 46% were women, and 50% of U.S. promotions were racially
or ethnically diverse colleagues.
- Retention: Retention rates globally were 94% among
women, and 93% among men. In the U.S., retention rates were 93%
among racially or ethnically diverse colleagues and 94% among white
colleagues.
- Enhancing Transparency on Equal Pay: In 2020, American
Express announced it had achieved 100% pay equity for colleagues
across genders globally and across races and ethnicities in the
U.S., assessing pay on a statistical basis and considering key
factors that influence compensation, and remains committed to
maintaining this goal going forward. Further enhancing its
transparency, the company is now disclosing its “raw median pay
gap,” which compares differences in raw median base pay making no
adjustments for factors such as role, level, tenure, performance,
or geography. In 2020, the median base pay of women globally was
107.6% of the median pay of men, while the median base pay of U.S.
racially or ethnically diverse colleagues was 94.6% of that of
white colleagues.
Building Financial Confidence As one of the largest
financial institutions in the world with an extensive small
business customer base and merchant network, American Express has
an opportunity to help people and businesses build financial
resilience through responsible, secure, and transparent products
and services. To advance this strategic pillar, the company
established new goals and initiatives as detailed in the report
including:
- Supporting Small Businesses: American Express aims to
drive $100 billion in consumer spending at small, independently
owned retailers or restaurants on Small Business Saturday and
during other Shop Small campaigns from 2021 through 2025.1 Between
2020 and 2021, the company spent more than $300 million on consumer
Card Member offers and related marketing to jumpstart spending
through its Shop Small campaigns.2
- Investing in Communities: American Express plans to
invest $500 million to build more resilient and equitable
communities between 2021 through 2025 in support of new initiatives
that combat economic, health, educational, and societal disparities
in communities. In 2020, the American Express Center for Community
Development (CCD) underwrote loans and investments which resulted
in the creation of more than 1,700 units of affordable
housing.
- Empowering Individuals: To help individuals and
businesses maintain their financial security and well-being,
American Express announced two new goals: provide at least 5
million individuals with the tools, resources, and educational
content to improve financial wellbeing from 2021 through 2025 and
provide access to credit to at least 4 million individuals from
underserved or underrepresented populations from 2021 through 2025.
In 2021, American Express released MyCredit Guide and Score Goals
on its mobile app in the U.S., tools to help consumers improve
their credit score, and it maintained the lowest fraud rate among
the major credit card networks for 14 consecutive years according
to the February 2021 Nilson Report.
Advancing Climate Solutions
To help build a more sustainable world, American Express is
enhancing its efforts to help customers and communities transition
to a low-carbon future. Recently announced goals include:
- Moving to Net Zero: American Express has committed to
net-zero emissions by 2035 in line with the Science Based Targets
initiative (SBTi). This builds on the company’s pledge in 2018 to
remain a carbon neutral company across its operations. American
Express will now also work with suppliers to reduce their impact on
the company’s value chain by inviting them to track, reduce, and
eventually neutralize their own operational greenhouse gas
emissions. The company will also pilot low carbon production
innovations, including carbon tracking and offset solutions by the
end of 2022.
- Community Support: American Express plans to provide at
least $10 million in philanthropic funding to support initiatives,
partnerships, and programs that address the adverse effects of
climate change on communities from 2021 through 2025. Additionally,
it will continue to engage colleagues in sustainability initiatives
through the Green2Gether program.
American Express’ ESG Report is mapped to the following
voluntary reporting standards and frameworks: Global Reporting
Initiative (GRI) Standards Core Option, Sustainability Accounting
Standards Board (SASB), and Task Force on Climate-Related Financial
Disclosures (TCFD).
To learn more about American Express’ approach to corporate
responsibility and ESG, visit https://amex.co/ESG.
1 Based on spend as reported by consumers
in surveys commissioned by American Express (not actual receipts or
sales).
2 Our commitment of more than $300
million, supported Card Member offers as well as marketing to
encourage customers in select countries to support small businesses
in 2020 and 2021.
ABOUT AMERICAN EXPRESS
American Express is a globally integrated payments company,
providing customers with access to products, insights and
experiences that enrich lives and build business success. Learn
more at americanexpress.com and connect with us on
facebook.com/americanexpress, instagram.com/americanexpress,
linkedin.com/company/american-express, twitter.com/americanexpress,
and youtube.com/americanexpress.
Key links to products, services and corporate responsibility
information: personal cards, business cards, travel services, gift
cards, prepaid cards, merchant services, Accertify, Kabbage, Resy,
corporate card, business travel, diversity and inclusion, and
corporate responsibility.
Source: American Express Company
Location: Global
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING
STATEMENTS
This release includes forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
which are subject to risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking
statements, including the company’s aspirational ESG commitments
and goals, contain words such as “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,”
“intend,” “plan,” “aim,” “will,” “may,” “seek,” “should,” “could,”
“would,” “likely,” “commit,” “continue” or other similar
expressions. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the
forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, including:
competition, brand perceptions and reputation; an inability to
develop and market value propositions that appeal to Card Members
and new customers; the amount and efficacy of investments in
product innovations, resources, marketing campaigns and programs;
changing customer behaviors, interest in the company’s products,
resources and programs, and willingness to access capital provided
by the company, spend money at small businesses and value
environmentally and socially responsible products and services;
management’s inability to identify suitable suppliers, grantees,
partners and community investments and negotiate acceptable terms;
the actual amount the company spends with suppliers, on ESG
initiatives and to make appropriate salary adjustments, all while
implementing operating expense control initiatives; an inability to
build partnerships and execute programs with other companies and of
partners to meet their obligations to the company; changes in
developing standards and certifications; the cost and availability
of renewable energy, carbon removal and carbon offset projects,
energy attribute certificates, certified paper and green buildings,
and alternatives to single-use plastic; supply chain and market
disruption; regulation; potential M&A activity; severe weather
conditions, natural disasters and other catastrophic events;
changes in the company’s real estate, technology, colleague and
community engagement, and risk management strategies; an inability
of waste management systems to divert waste to recycling and
composting facilities; and changes in economic or business
conditions and the company’s ability to grow, improve its financial
performance and execute on its strategies. A further description of
these and other risks and uncertainties can be found in the
Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December
31, 2020 and the Company’s other filings with the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission. You are cautioned not to place undue
reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as
of the date on which they are made. We undertake no obligation to
update or revise any forward-looking statements.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210928005359/en/
Media: Leah M. Gerstner, Leah.M.Gerstner@aexp.com,
+1.212.640.3174 Azar Boehm, Azar.Boehm@aexp.com,
+1.212.225.4052
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