Reuters
- Federal Investigators are probing business-card sales tactics at American Express, the Wall Street Journal reported.
- American Express stock dropped as much as 4% Thursday.
- American Express did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. A spokeswoman for the company told the Journal that the company has “robust compliance policies and controls in place, and do not tolerate misconduct.”
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
American Express’ stock dropped as much as 4% on Thursday after the Wall Street Journal reported that regulators are investigating whether the company misled businesses to get them to sign up for cards.
The inspectors general offices of the Treasury Department, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and Federal Reserve are investigating whether American Express used deceptive sales tactics to sell cards to business owners and whether customers were harmed, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is also investigating the issue, the Journal said.
Investigators are also probing whether some specific employees contributed to or supported the alleged behavior, the report said.
The Journal previously reported that some former and current employees had said that some AmEx salespeople “strong-armed or misled small-business owners” to get them to sign up for cards.
American Express did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on Thursday. A spokeswoman for the company told the Journal that the company has "robust compliance policies and controls in place, and do not tolerate misconduct."
The offices of inspectors general for the Treasury Department, FDIC, and Federal Reserve were also not immediately available for comment. The Journal reported that the investigations are in the early stages.