American Express CEO Awarded $24.4 Million for 2013 -- Update

By Andrew R. Johnson 

American Express Co. awarded Chairman and Chief Executive Kenneth Chenault compensation of $24.4 million for 2013, an 11% increase over the prior year, the credit-card company said in a regulatory filing Friday.

The pay package once again puts Mr. Chenault, 62, among the highest-paid U.S. bank CEOs, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s Lloyd Blankfein and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s James Dimon.

Mr. Chenault's compensation included $2 million in salary, which was unchanged from the prior year, as well as an annual incentive award of $7.95 million and a long-term incentive award valued at $14.45 million.

In determining his pay, the compensation committee of AmEx's board took into account that the company earned $4.88 a share last year, in line with a target of $4.74 to $4.94 a share, as well as return on equity of 27.8%, above a target of 26%.

AmEx also on Friday disclosed Mr. Chenault's compensation as determined under guidelines set by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which look at certain compensation awards made within a specific performance year.

Under that calculation, Mr. Chenault received $21.8 million in 2013, down 23% from the prior year.

While AmEx is a bank holding company, the firm doesn't compete directly in many of the businesses offered by Wall Street banks such as Bank of America Corp. and Goldman Sachs.

AmEx is the largest U.S. credit-card issuer based on customer spending. The company, which also operates a payments network that competes against Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc., has been one of the best-performing card issuers thanks in part to its focus on affluent customers.

More recently AmEx has been working to expand its customer base through products that don't require a credit check, including prepaid cards sold through retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp. The company also has invested in new digital services aimed at increasing its share of payments made online and on mobile devices.

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