by Calculated Risk on 11/10/2008 06:56:00 PM

Fed Press Release:

The Federal Reserve Board on Monday announced its approval of the applications and notices under sections 3 and 4 of the Bank Holding Company Act by American Express Company and American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc., both of New York, New York, to become bank holding companies on conversion of American Express Centurion Bank, Salt Lake City, Utah, to a bank, and to retain certain nonbanking subsidiaries, including American Express Bank, FSB, Salt Lake City, Utah.

American Express has approximately $127 billion in consolidated assets, and becoming a bank holding company allows access to financing from the Federal Reserve for some of these assets. More details are in the Fed Order.