American Express has escaped serious harm from the recent and massive
"We have seen minimal exposure thus far," Campbell said during American Express' conference call to discuss fourth-quarter earnings. "We have fraud protections in place and are taking targeted actions as needed."
Campbell did not elaborate on what those measures were, but
Target reported that the holiday-season data breach affected 40 million cards nationwide. The retailer later disclosed that an additional set of personal information belonging to 70 million people was also exposed. A number of card issuers
American Express' closed-loop model the company acts as an issuer, merchant acquirer and card network is helpful in shielding the company from large data breaches, Campbell said. "It gives us advantages here in terms of managing things," he said.
It's also too early to ascertain the industry's next step in responding to the data breach, he said. Some companies are