Dive Brief:
- American Express is urging shareholders to vote down two shareholder proposals, one involving diversity incentives and another involving advertising, saying both are unnecessary.
- The conservative National Legal and Policy Center is pushing a proposal to eliminate financial incentives to Amex executives who seek diverse suppliers. The credit card giant says it no longer offers such compensation.
- The consulting firm Bowyer Research proposed a measure to compel the card network to produce a report over the next year on how it spends advertising dollars and how it assesses the risks associated with outlets’ religious or political opinions. Amex says it does not discriminate against ad buyers based on their views.
Dive Insight:
The company’s annual shareholder meeting, when votes will be held on both proposals, is scheduled for April 29.
Diversity programs have been in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump since he was inaugurated in January. Executive orders from the White House have targeted diversity, equity and inclusion programs. And a number of banks have tweaked the language in their annual reports to cut out references to DEI.
“Many corporations dramatically reduced or eliminated their DEI programs, and companies face retribution for their discrimination,” the National Legal and Policy Center wrote in its proposal.
Amex offers cash incentives to executives to increase spending with suppliers who are members of minority groups, the policy center said in its proposal, citing language from the American Express 2024 proxy statement.
The card network disputed the legal center’s characterization of executive pay packages.
“The Company’s executive compensation program no longer uses diversity performance goals,” Amex wrote in its 2025 proxy statement opposing the policy center’s proposal. “Our Compensation and Benefits Committee annually reviews the Company’s executive compensation practices in accordance with our governance framework.”
The credit card network listed “diversity representation” as one of many key metrics it considers for incentives in executive pay packages in its 2023 and 2024 proxy statements, but that language was not included in the 2025 proxy statement.
An American Express spokesperson declined to comment, referring instead to Amex’s response to the shareholder proposals in the 2025 proxy statement.
American Express should stop using advertising dollars to discourage political views, the Bowyer Research shareholder proposal indicated.
The proposal, however, doesn’t cite any specific instances of Amex withholding advertising dollars to companies or individuals.
“American Express is a global brand with immense influence and ad-buying power,” Bowyer Research’s proposal said. “It should be advertising in ways that support its competitive interests and build its reputation for serving its diverse customers.”
Amex again disputed the description of its policies.
“The Company does not have a policy or practice to discriminate against advertising buyers and sellers based on their political or religious affiliation or views,” the card network said in opposing the research firm’s proposal. “The Company does not tolerate discrimination, including on the basis of political or religious affiliation or views.”
Amex supports “fair competition,” the proxy statement reads.
Spokespeople for Bowyer Research and the National Legal and Policy Center did not respond to requests for additional comment.
Amex urged shareholders to vote against both proposals on the grounds that the proposals are superfluous.
