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.
Write to Andrew R. Johnson at andrewr.johnson@wsj.com
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