American Express shares fell nearly 4% on Friday after the credit card giant announced plans to eliminate 5% of its global workforce, as it looks to streamline operations and prepare for greater use of artificial intelligence (AI).
Shares of American Express were trading at $313.08, down $12.09, as of 12:19 p.m. EDT. The decline came after the company announced a $336 million restructuring charge linked to its workforce reduction and efforts to streamline operations for greater use of artificial intelligence (AI).
The company will incur a $336 million restructuring charge as part of the exercise, CEO Stephen Squeri told analysts during American Express' third-quarter earnings call. The company had nearly 77,000 employees at the end of 2025, suggesting the cuts could affect around 3,850 positions.
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The job reductions reflect a growing push across the financial services industry to use AI and automation to reduce costs, simplify operations and improve productivity.
Speaking to CNBC, Chief Financial Officer Christophe Le Caillec said the restructuring was aimed at making American Express leaner, more agile, and also to prepare for AI.
He said the company wanted to reorganise its processes before automating them, rather than applying AI to systems that were not structured efficiently.
"You don't want to automate processes that are not optimally structured," Le Caillec told CNBC, adding that American Express was looking to reduce management layers and expand spans of control to make automation easier in the coming quarters and years.
American Express is not alone in rethinking its workforce as technology becomes more central to banking and financial services.
On Thursday, Barclays confirmed plans to cut 5,000 jobs, equivalent to roughly 5% of its workforce, as part of a technology-driven cost-cutting initiative. The announcements come at a time when financial institutions are benefiting from resilient consumer spending and solid profitability.
Squeri said American Express had built strong business momentum but needed a more efficient organisational structure to sustain growth and accelerate innovation.
The CEO also devoted a substantial part of his prepared remarks to AI, particularly its potential to personalise services, offers and experiences for cardholders.
However, he stressed that the company would maintain safeguards around how AI-powered assistants interact with its systems.
"We're not going to let assistants run rogue through our system," Squeri said, explaining that external AI agents would only be permitted to access American Express systems through approved application programming interface (API) or Model Context Protocol (MCP) channels.
The workforce announcement came alongside quarterly results that exceeded Wall Street's profit expectations.
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American Express reported adjusted earnings of $4.68 per share, above analysts' average estimate of $4.48, according to LSEG. The company also raised its full-year earnings guidance to $18.30-$18.60 per share on an unadjusted basis, compared with its previous forecast of $17.30-$17.90.
Revenue increased 9% to $20.06 billion, slightly below the $20.12 billion expected by analysts, according to LSEG. Executives partly attributed the shortfall to recent exits from small-business co-brand partnerships.
Le Caillec said proceeds from the sale of American Express' stake in Global Business Travel Group helped support the improved earnings outlook, with part of the proceeds also contributing to the restructuring plan.
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