American Express layoffs: Thousands of roles slashed in AI push as job losses in financial services pile up

It hasn’t been a good week for workers in the banking and financial sector. Yesterday, UK banking giant Barclays announced it was laying off 5% of its workforce, or nearly 5,000 workers, as it transitions more of the bank’s operations to artificial intelligence systems. Across the Atlantic this morning, an American financial giant made a similar announcement. The American Express Company (NYSE: AXP), owner of the eponymous credit card and associated financial services, announced that it will slash 5% of its workforce due to AI. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happened? On Friday morning, American Express CEO Stephen Squeri announced that the U.S. financial giant was eliminating 5% of its global workforce. American Express had roughly 76,800 employees at the end of 2025, so a 5% reduction equates to about 3,840 job losses. Amex confirmed the layoffs to Fast Company when reached for comment. “We’ve got good momentum, but to accelerate innovation and win over the next few years, we need to become a more agile and efficient organization,” American Express CEO Steve Squeri said on a call this morning with analysts. Squeri added: “When completed, we believe this exercise will help …

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