American Express Cuts 5% of Workforce, Takes $336 Million Charge

American Express is cutting 5% of its global workforce and taking a $336 million restructuring charge, CEO Stephen Squeri told analysts Friday on the company's third-quarter earnings call.

The firm had almost 77,000 employees at the end of 2025. A 5% reduction translates into thousands of jobs. The company tied the move directly to artificial intelligence. Amex is preparing for AI to take over more of its internal processes, and management wants the organization reshaped before that happens.

The charge is not a distress signal. Amex joins a sector-wide push in financial services, where banks are replacing repetitive roles with AI automation even as profits stay strong on growing consumer spending and resilient credit.

Why is Amex restructuring now?

CFO Christophe Le Caillec told CNBC the restructuring charge was designed to make American Express "leaner, more agile, and also to prepare for AI."

His explanation was mechanical, not vague. The company is flattening itself before it automates.

"You don't want to automate processes that are not optimally structured," Le Caillec said. "So what we're doing here is to reduce layers and increase spans of controls, so that we can automate and take advantage of AI in the coming quarters and the coming years."

The logic is straightforward. Automating a bloated hierarchy locks in the bloat. Amex is removing management layers first, then handing the streamlined processes to AI systems. The CFO's phrasing — "reduce layers and increase spans of controls" — describes fewer bosses each overseeing more people, a structure that machines can plug into with less friction.

Squeri made the same case on the analyst call, saying the charge was meant to improve the company's efficiency.

"We've got good momentum, but to accelerate innovation and win over the next few years, we needed to become [a] more agile and efficient organization," Squeri said.

He framed the savings as fuel for investment rather than simply cost-cutting.

"We believe this exercise will help us operate and execute more effectively and give us greater capacity to invest in our business priorities," Squeri said.

Is Amex alone in cutting for AI?

No. The Amex announcement reflects a broader trend across financial services.

On Thursday, one day before the Amex call, Barclays confirmed plans to trim 5,000 jobs — also roughly 5% of its staff — in another tech-driven cost initiative.

The parallel is exact in proportion. Two major financial institutions on two sides of the Atlantic announced 5% workforce reductions within 24 hours of each other, both citing technology-driven efficiency programs.

The timing matters for what it signals about the sector's priorities. These cuts come even as banks enjoy robust profits from growing consumer spending and resilient credit. Companies are not trimming because business is bad. They are trimming because they believe AI will let them run the same business with fewer people.

What happens next?

Le Caillec said automation will roll out "in the coming quarters and the coming years." That puts Amex on a timeline where the $336 million charge is the entry fee for a multi-year AI transformation.

The story is developing. Watch for the pace of the job cuts, the specific processes Amex automates first, and whether other card issuers and banks follow the 5% template that Amex and Barclays have now both set.

By Daniel Okafor