16 Facts About American Express

1. In 2008, American Express was named the 62nd best company to work for in the United States by Fortune, ranking it number one for bank card companies.

2. In May 2007, American Express launched an initiative called the Members Project.

3. In March 2014, American Express announced that it signed an agreement to create a joint venture for business travel and spun off its corporate travel business as American Express Global Business Travel.

4. In 2005, American Express released the American Express Travelers Check Card, a stored-value card that serves the same purposes as a traveler's check, but can be used in stores like a credit card.

5. Bank of America will issue Visa and American Express Express cards under the Bank of Hawaii name.

6. In January 2006, American Express sold its Bank of Hawaii card portfolio to Bank of America.

7. In 2008, American Express acquired the Corporate Payment Services business of GE, which primarily focused on providing Purchasing Card solutions for large global clients.

8. In 2008, American Express closed all Business Line of Credit accounts.

9. In 2005, American Express introduced ExpressPay, similar to Mastercard Contactless and Visa payWave, all of which use the symbol appearing on the right.

10. In 2005, American Express introduced Clear, advertised as the first credit card with no fees of any kind.

11. In 1999, American Express introduced the Centurion Card, often referred to as the "black card", which caters to an even more affluent and elite customer segment.

12. In 1958, American Express issued its first charge card, which required payment at the end of every month.

13. In November 2010, the UK division of American Express Express was cautioned by the Office of Fair Trading for the use of controversial charging orders against those in debt.

14. At that time, American Express had total consolidated assets of about $127 billion.

15. From early 1980s until the early 1990s, American Express Express was known for cutting its interchange fee to merchants and restaurants if they accepted only American Express and no other credit or charge cards.

16. In 1987, American Express introduced the Optima card, its first credit card product that did not have to be paid in full at the end of the month.