DBRS Assigns Provisional Ratings of AAA to American Express Bank, FSB’s FDIC Guaranteed Issuances

DBRS has today assigned provisional ratings of AAA to the $3.5 billion 3.15% Fixed-Rate Global Guaranteed Bank Notes, Due December 2011; the $1.25 billion Floating-Rate Global Guaranteed Bank Notes, Due December 2011; and the $750 million Floating-Rate Global Guaranteed Bank Notes, Due December 2010, issued by American Express Bank, FSB. The AAA ratings are based on the explicit guarantee provided by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (TLGP), which is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. Under the TLGP, the FDIC guarantees payment of qualifying debt issued by eligible FDIC-insured depository institutions, such as American Express Bank, FSB.

The AAA rating reflects DBRS’s opinion as to the guarantor’s ability to honor the guarantee as determined by DBRS’s internal assessment of the sovereign. All other debt ratings, including American Express Company’s A (high) Issuer and Long-Term Debt rating, remain at their current levels. The trend on all long-term non-guaranteed ratings remains Stable.

DBRS will finalize these ratings upon receipt and review of the final documents.

Note:
All figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.

The applicable methodology is Rating Finance Companies Operating in the United States, which can be found on the DBRS website under Methodologies.

This is a Corporate (Financial Institutions) rating.