American Express Maintains Impressive Momentum in New Card Acquisition and Loan Growth

American Express has enjoyed several years of accelerated growth as its new card acquisition and loan growth have significantly outpaced peers'. The company has historically been a payment network first and lender second. While this hasn’t changed—it still gets only about 25% of its revenue from net interest income—its shift toward a younger cardholder base and more lending features on its cards drove 26.1% compound annual growth in net interest income from 2021 to 2024, providing a major tailwind for overall growth. While this growth has decelerated, as specific strategic and product shifts ran their course, the firm’s shift toward younger cardholders should provide a long-term tailwind to NII. As a case in point, NII increased 12% in 2025, below the previous three-year average but still well above the industry average.