AMERICAN EXPRESS CO — Director's Dealing 2012

May 18, 2012

SEC Form 4 — Statement of Changes in Beneficial Ownership

Issuer: AMERICAN EXPRESS CO (AXP)
CIK: 0000004962
Period of Report: 2012-05-18

Reporting Person: Cox L Kevin (EVP, Human Resources)

Non-Derivative Transactions

Date	Security	Code	Shares	Price	A/D	Holdings After	Ownership
2012-05-18	Common Stock	M	50867	$16.71	Acquired	149682	Direct
2012-05-18	Common Stock	S	41298	$55.27	Disposed	108384	Direct
2012-05-18	Common Stock	S	9569	$55.27	Disposed	98815	Direct
2012-05-18	Common Stock	G	1799	—	Disposed	97016	Direct

Derivative Transactions

Date	Security	Exercise Price	Code	Shares	A/D	Expiration	Underlying	Ownership
2012-05-18	Employee Stock Option (Right to Buy)	$16.71	M	50867	Disposed	2019-01-28	Common Stock (50867)	Direct

Holdings (Non-Derivative)

Security	Shares	Ownership
Common Stock	49.72	Indirect

Footnotes

F1: The reported disposition represents the sale of shares to cover the cost of exercise and withholding tax obligations arising from the stock options exercises reported above and the sale of 50% of the net shares acquired from these exercises; Mr. Cox will retain the balance of the net shares in accordance with the Company's retention guidelines for executive officers.

F2: The reported disposition represents the sale of shares acquired from restricted stock vestings and/or stock option exercises in prior years.

F3: Shares held in reporting person's account under the Company's Retirement Savings Plan. This plan uses unit accounting, and the number of shares that a participant is deemed to hold varies with the unit price of the Company pooled stock fund.