Dive Brief:

• A spike in spending by American Express cardholders was driven largely by purchases of luxury items, American Express Chief Financial Officer Christophe Le Caillec told investors in an earnings call Friday.
• Overall retail spending on Amex cards rose 10% in the fourth quarter of last year compared to the same time period a year earlier, while spending at luxury merchants increased 15%, he said in Friday’s call.
• The figures “reflect the continued strength of our customer base,” Le Caillec said.

Dive Insight:

Amex is generally considered a brand for wealthier cardholders, with the company's top Platinum card charging $895 a year. That’s in contrast to some credit cards that have no annual fee.

Amex has not revealed the percentage increase of cardholder spending on high-end goods in previous quarters.

A company spokesperson declined to provide that figures, but explained why luxury retail spending was not included in previous earnings reports. “This was a one-time disclosure to give more color on what we saw in Q4 and holiday season,” the spokesperson said in an email.

Total spending by Amex cardholders was $445.1 billion in the fourth quarter, which was up 9% year-over-year, according to a press release the company posted online Friday prior to the earnings call. Total cardholder spending was $1.67 trillion for all of 2025, which was an increase of 8% compared to 2024, the release said.

And American Express is hoping to attract even more high spenders, CEO Steve Squeri said on Friday’s call. “We reallocated marketing dollars away from lower-cost cashback products to Platinum” cards, he said.

Squeri on Friday also added his name to the list of credit card executives and bankers who have criticized President Donald Trump’s proposed 10% interest rate cap on credit cards. 

"Affordability is really important, but I don't think a 10% credit card cap is the answer," he said in a response to a question about the proposal, which Trump first made on the campaign trail but revived in recent weeks. "It would reduce the number of cards in the marketplace."

Trump asked card networks to impose the interest rate limit by Jan. 20, but that deadline came and went without any action to that effect.

Separately, bipartisan bills were introduced in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives last year to cap credit card interest rates at 10%.

Amex reported net income of $2.46 billion for the fourth quarter, a 13% increase from the $2.17 billion it reported in the same quarter in 2024. The company reported $18.98 billion in total revenue for the fourth quarter, a 10% increase from the $17.18 billion it reported in the year ago quarter. 

The card network reported $10.83 billion in net income for all of 2025, a 7% increase from the $10.13 billion it reported in 2024. For the full year, Amex reported $72.23 billion in total revenue, a 10% increase from the $65.95 billion in revenue it reported in 2024.