American Express Releases its Inaugural Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Report
November 17 2021 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
The report outlines its progress toward its $1 Billion Action
Plan to promote racial, ethnic and gender equity for its
colleagues, customers and communities.
American Express (NYSE: AXP) today announced the release of its
inaugural Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) report, which
documents the company’s progress on its DE&I commitments and
initiatives as part of its $1 Billion DE&I Action Plan launched
in October 2020.
The report also details the diversity representation of its
colleagues and the company’s history of fostering an inclusive and
equitable culture through real stories from colleagues, customers,
and community leaders.
“At American Express, we have a longstanding commitment to
fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion in our culture and in
our interactions with our colleagues, customers, and communities,
and we are proud of our history in this regard,” said Stephen J.
Squeri, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of American Express.
“Our first diversity, equity, and inclusion report underscores this
commitment by taking a comprehensive look at our DE&I efforts
and providing transparency to our stakeholders on our progress,
while also acknowledging that we still have more to do toward our
goal of driving meaningful change both inside and outside the
company.”
Through mid-2021, American Express has spent over $450 million
on a range of actions within the plan, including contracts with
diverse suppliers, financial assistance and resources for
minority-owned businesses, investments in pay equity, education,
and training for colleagues, and philanthropic contributions.
In re-affirming its commitment to DE&I, last year American
Express created the Office of Enterprise Inclusion, Diversity and
Business Engagement, which reports directly to the CEO. The office
guides and monitors the company’s inclusive practices and
initiatives across six core areas: brand, culture, colleagues,
customers, business, and communities. It is also responsible for
measuring the company’s progress against the objectives outlined in
the DE&I Action Plan.
Additional highlights from the report include:
- In 2020, American Express achieved 100% pay equity for
colleagues across genders globally and across races and ethnicities
in the United States and enhanced transparency on equal pay with
the disclosure of its “raw median base pay gap.”
- The company also enhanced transparency of its diversity
representation data by disclosing its hiring, promotion, and
retention efforts, reporting that 48% of new hires globally were
women, and 50% of all U.S. new hires were racially or ethnically
diverse.
- American Express has pledged $40 million to the Accion
Opportunity Fund to expand access to loans for historically
underfunded small businesses, including those owned by women and
underrepresented minorities, and provided 100 Black women
entrepreneurs with $25,000 grants and 100 days of business
resources through its partnership with IFundWomen of Color.
- In 2020, American Express introduced more than 50 new suppliers
across seven different diverse business certifications, and spent
more than $374 million on services provided by diverse and
minority-owned suppliers - a 7% increase from 2019.
- American Express furthered its philanthropic support of
nonprofits around the world that are led by underrepresented groups
and focus on addressing inequality, providing more than $16 million
from 2020 through June 2021 to organizations including the NAACP
Legal Defense & Educational Fund and the National Urban League.
It has also supported the Chinese American Planning Council and the
Hispanic Federation.
- American Express has invested at least $25 million in economic
development in 2020 to support its communities, including a $3
million commitment to the CDFI Community Investment Fund, which
provides capital to finance community development projects.
The complete DE&I report can be found here and additional
information about American Express’ efforts to address racial
inequality and social issues can be found in the company’s recently
released 2020-2021 Environmental, Social, and Governance
Report.
ABOUT AMERICAN EXPRESS
American Express is a globally integrated payments company,
providing customers with access to products, insights and
experiences that enrich lives and build business success. Learn
more at americanexpress.com and connect with us on
facebook.com/americanexpress, instagram.com/americanexpress,
linkedin.com/company/american-express, twitter.com/americanexpress,
and youtube.com/americanexpress.
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AMERICAN EXPRESS Rohan Ramsay 212-640-7034
Rohan.Ramsay@aexp.com
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