Large and global corporate customers are the one category that has not come back to pre-pandemic spend levels, according to Jeff Campbell, CFO of American Express, speaking on a fourth quarter earnings call. That segment, he said, is showing steady recovery, but in the last quarter of the year saw overall billings 11% below pre-pandemic levels.

The company, according to Campbell, saw another quarter of solid growth in small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) business, through growth slowed during the quarter. SMEs, said Campbell, have recently started to slow spending in certain categories, such as digital advertising.

The steepest growth in spending has been in international card services, said Campbell, given that that segment started its pandemic recovery later than others. Spending from international SME and large corporate customers grew 32% year-over-year in the fourth quarter.

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Steve Squeri, CEO, said that overall revenues reached all-time highs for both the quarter and the year, increasing 17% for the quarter and 25% for the full year.