Americans beefed up their mortgage balances to a new high, taking advantage of near-zero interest rates.
“The recovery so far has been uneven, V-shaped for domestic volumes but L-shaped for cross-border volumes,” CFO Vasant Prahbhu says.
Payments volume improved as the third quarter progressed, reflecting the easing of shelter-in-place orders in the U.S.
AmEx is "in a tricky situation because they have a large corporate book and a big T&E book and those are the parts in the world’s economies that are weak."
"The first two months of 2020 continued the strong momentum we have delivered over the past two years, but we’re now in a different world."
The high-profile lawmakers say a 15% cap is needed to protect consumers from the "economic brutality" of big banks.
“The current economic expansion is the second longest on record, and the nation’s banks are stronger as a result," said the FDIC chair.
The gain was the largest since November 2016 and easily beat economists' expectations of a $12.4 billion increase.
Overseas transactions played a "major role" in Mastercard's Q1 performance as gross dollar volume increased 23.5% compared to 10.5% in the U.S..
“The current debt level is still manageable and is likely to grow further this year,” one economist says.
The card company's net income for Q4 dipped to $387 million from $563 million, but all its loan segments saw growth.
The credit card issuer increased its credit loss provision by 5% and also took a $1.77 billion hit from the new tax law.
