Card company American Express has reported “particularly strong” travel and entertaining (T&E) spending among all customer types in the fourth quarter of 2022, although larger clients continue to lag behind in this recovery.
Amex’s chief financial officer Jeff Campbell said in an earnings call on Friday (27 January) that total T&E spending through its products was $25 billion in the fourth quarter, up 44 per cent year-on-year but still 9 per cent down on 2019.
The total was about flat with the previous quarter and one percentage point higher in terms of recovery.
T&E spending by global corporate and large US customers rose by 86 per cent year-on-year but remained at two-thirds of pre-pandemic levels in the quarter. As a comparison, T&E spending by small and mid-sized (SME) customers was up 30 per cent year-on-year and also 14 per cent higher than during Q4 of 2019.
Outside the US, international customers’ T&E spending on Amex products, which includes both business and consumer spending, reached $21 billion in the quarter, up by 53 per cent year-on-year and 7 per cent above 2019 levels.
In terms of total T&E by category, only spending on flights was below 2019 levels in Q4, with airline spending remaining 6 per cent down on pre-Covid figures despite a 67 per cent year-on-year increase.
Spending on accommodation was up 35 per cent year-on-year and up 3 per cent compared with 2019, while restaurant spending was up 24 per cent on 2021 and 37 per cent compared with 2019.
“On a dollar basis, most of our spending categories have fully recovered, so I would expect more stable growth rates this year,” added Campbell.
Amex reported total revenues of $14.2 billion in the fourth quarter, up 17 per cent on Q4 in 2019, with both increased spending and higher net interest income driving this growth in revenue.
The company's net profit for the quarter was $1.6 billion, down from $1.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021 due to a rise in operating expenses and provisions for credit losses.