AMERICAN EXPRESS CO

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2026 PROXY STATEMENT 97 •

Street Name Holders

If your shares are held in a bank, brokerage or other institutional account, you are a beneficial owner of these shares but not the record holder. This is known as holding shares in “street name.” If you wish to vote the shares you hold in “street name” at the Annual Meeting, you must obtain a valid legal proxy from your bank, broker or other intermediary.

Audio and Replay

The Annual Meeting will be accessible to the general public through the American Express Investor Relations website at http://ir.americanexpress.com. An audio replay will be available after the meeting at the same website address.

Vote Confirmation

You may confirm your vote was cast in accordance with your instructions. Beginning April 21, 2026, and for up to 60 days after the Annual Meeting, you may confirm your vote beginning 24 hours after your vote is received, whether it was cast by proxy card, electronically or telephonically. To obtain vote confirmation, log on to www.proxyvote.com using your 16-digit control number (included on your notice, on your proxy card or in the instructions that accompanied your proxy materials) and receive confirmation on how your vote was cast. If you hold your shares through a bank, brokerage account or other institutional account, the ability to confirm your vote may be affected by the rules of your bank, broker or other intermediary, and the confirmation will not confirm whether your bank, broker or other intermediary allocated the correct number of shares to you.

Solicitation of Proxies; Expenses

We are providing this Proxy Statement to you in connection with the solicitation of proxies by our Board for the 2026 Annual Meeting, including any adjournment or postponement of the meeting.

We will pay the expenses of soliciting proxies on behalf of the Board. Our directors, officers or employees may solicit proxies for us in person or by mail, telephone, facsimile or electronic transmission. We have hired Sodali & Co, 333 Ludlow Street, 5th Floor, South Tower, Stamford, CT 06902, to help us distribute and solicit proxies. We will pay them $22,000 plus expenses for these services. Proxies may be solicited by mail, telephone, facsimile, telegraph, the Internet, e-mail, newspapers and other publications of general distribution and in person.

Notice of Business to Come Before the Meeting

Our Board and the Company’s Management have not received notice of, and are not aware of, any business to come before the Annual Meeting other than the agenda items referred to in this Proxy Statement. If any other matter comes before the meeting, the named proxies will use their best judgment in voting the proxies.

Additional Voting Information

Voting at the Annual Meeting

Shares represented by valid proxies or voting instruction forms that are received on time will be voted as specified. If you sign and return your proxy card or voting instruction form but do not indicate specific choices, your shares will be voted as our Board recommends. The way you vote your shares prior to the meeting will not limit your right to change your vote at the virtual Annual Meeting. Shareholders who wish to vote at the virtual Annual Meeting may do so by visiting www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/AXP2026, entering their 16-digit control number and following the on-screen instructions.

If the Annual Meeting is adjourned or postponed, your proxy will still be effective and you will be able to change or revoke your proxy until the rescheduled Annual Meeting.

Record Date

You may vote all common shares that you owned as of the close of business on March 6, 2026, the record date for the Annual Meeting. On the record date, we had 685,783,466 common shares outstanding and entitled to vote. Each common share is entitled to one vote on each matter properly brought before the Annual Meeting.

• 98 2026 PROXY STATEMENT

Ownership of Shares

You may own common shares in one or more of the following ways:

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Directly in your name as the shareholder of record, including shares purchased through the Computershare Investment Plan, our transfer agent’s stock purchase plan or restricted stock awards issued to employees under our long-term incentive plans.

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If your shares are registered directly in your name, you are the holder of record of these shares, and we are sending proxy materials directly to you. As the holder of record, you have the right to give your proxy directly to our tabulating agent.

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Indirectly through a broker, bank or other intermediary in street name.

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If you hold your shares in street name, your broker, bank or other intermediary is sending proxy materials to you and you may direct them how to vote on your behalf by completing the voting instruction form that accompanies your proxy materials or following the instructions in the notice you received.

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Indirectly through the American Express Company Stock Fund of our RSP or the ESOP of Amex Canada, Inc. and Amex Bank of Canada.

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If you participate in the Computershare Investment Plan, which is the stock purchase plan administered by Computershare, the Company’s transfer agent, your proxy includes the number of shares enrolled in that plan as well as any shares you have acquired through dividend reinvestment. If you participate in the RSP or ESOP, your proxy includes shares that the relevant plan has credited to your account.

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To allow sufficient time for the RSP and the ESOP trustees to vote, the trustees must receive your voting instructions by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on April 30, 2026. If the trustees for the RSP and the ESOP do not receive your instructions by that date, the trustees will not vote your shares.

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How to Cast Your Vote

You may vote common shares that you owned as of the close of business on March 6, 2026, which is the record date for the Annual Meeting. We encourage you to vote as soon as possible, even if you plan to attend the Annual Meeting. Please follow the instructions on your proxy card, voting instruction form or on the notice of internet availability of proxy materials that you received. If you submit your vote prior to the meeting, you may still attend the Annual Meeting and vote at the Annual Meeting.

You may vote in the following ways:

For voting via telephone, online and at the virtual Annual Meeting, you will need the 16-digit control number included on your notice, on your proxy card or in the voting instructions that accompanied your proxy materials. Telephone and online voting are available through 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on April 30, 2026, for shares held in employee plans, and through 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on May 4, 2026, for all other shares.

Confidential Voting

We maintain the confidentiality of the votes of individual shareholders. Your vote will not be disclosed unless the law requires disclosure, you authorize disclosure or your vote is cast in a contested election. If you write comments on your proxy card, Management may learn how you voted in reviewing your comments. In addition, the Inspectors of Election and selected employees of our independent tabulating agent may have access to individual votes in the normal course of counting and verifying the vote.