AMERICAN EXPRESS CO

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2026 PROXY STATEMENT 99 •

Effect of Not Casting Your Vote

If you hold your shares in street name, you must instruct your bank, broker or other intermediary how to vote your shares. Under NYSE rules, brokers are permitted to exercise discretionary voting authority on “routine” matters when voting instructions have not been received from a beneficial owner ten days prior to the Annual Meeting. The only “routine” item on this year’s Annual Meeting Agenda is Item 2 (Ratification of Appointment of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm).

Therefore, if you hold your shares in street name and you wish to have your shares voted on all items in this Proxy Statement, please return your voting instruction form or cast your instructions by telephone or online. Otherwise, your shares will not be voted on any items with the exception that your bank, broker or other intermediary may vote in its discretion on Item 2.

Revocation of Proxies

You can revoke your proxy at any time before your shares are voted if you:

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Submit a written revocation to our Company’s Corporate Secretary and Chief Governance Officer.

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Submit a later-dated proxy.

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Provide subsequent telephone or online voting instructions.

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Attend and vote at the virtual Annual Meeting (however, attending the virtual Annual Meeting alone will not revoke your previous proxy).

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If you hold your shares in street name, please follow the directions provided to you by your bank, broker or other intermediary to change or revoke any voting instructions you have already provided.

Quorum and Required Vote

We will have a quorum and will be able to conduct the business of the Annual Meeting if the holders of a majority of the votes that shareholders are entitled to cast are present at the meeting, either virtually by logging in to the virtual meeting website using your 16-digit control number, or by proxy. Virtual attendance at the Annual Meeting, abstentions and broker non-votes are counted as present for purposes of determining whether there is a quorum. For the 2026 Annual Meeting, to elect directors and adopt the other proposals, the following votes are required under our governing documents and New York State law:

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A broker non-vote occurs when a broker submits a proxy but does not vote for an item because it is not a “routine” item and the broker has not received voting instructions from the beneficial owner. As described under “Effect of Not Casting Your Vote,” your broker may vote in its discretion only on Item 2, Ratification of Appointment of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm.

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Advisory/Non-binding

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There are no cumulative voting rights. Abstentions and broker non-votes are not considered as votes cast and will have no effect on the outcome of the vote on any of the proposals. If any other matter comes before the meeting, the named proxies will use their best judgment in voting the proxies.

Multiple Shareholders Sharing the Same Address

We are sending only one notice or one Proxy Statement and Annual Report to the address of multiple shareholders unless we have received contrary instructions from any shareholder at that address. This practice, known as “householding,” reduces