American Express' Private Bank Announces Enhancements to Signature Discretionary Portfolios.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 7, 2002

--New U.S. and Japanese Equity Portfolios Added;

Other Portfolio Additions Planned --

American Express Bank ("AEB") announced today a number of significant enhancements to its Signature Portfolios, the lead discretionary investment product offered by its Private Bank.

The new client choices for Signature Portfolios include regional portfolios, new portfolio managers, different investment styles, pricing alternatives and statement enhancements.

"The changes we're making give our clients more flexibility," says Sergio J. Masvidal who heads the American Express Private Bank. "That's especially important in the kind of unsettled economic environment we're seeing today. It also allows us to do an even better job of tailoring our products to their particular investment style."

Signature's two new U.S. portfolios include one managed by SDR Capital Management, Inc. (SDR), a California-based money manager for high-net-worth individuals. SDR's U.S. portfolio combines equities that are found in the top performing sectors of the S&P 500 Index that are then enhanced by small- and mid-cap equity selections. A key element in SDR's sector selection process is the use of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), which provides insight into emerging investment opportunities and a broader array of sectors to examine for high potential equities.

The other new U.S. portfolio and the new Japanese portfolio are managed by Walter Scott & Partners Limited (WSP) a Scotland-based institutional money manager. WSP uses a bottom-up investment style that focuses on fundamental value of individual companies. In-depth proprietary research is devoted to finding individual companies that meet rigorous criteria including an internal rate of return of 20 percent or more.

Signature clients will also see enhanced statements including multi-currency reporting in the clients' choice of language: English, French, Portuguese and Spanish. In early 2002, AEB plans to roll out a European equities portfolio, and as client demand develops, other portfolios.

"With Signature Portfolios we're providing clients a quality and tailored discretionary investment product," says Robert Friedman, Head of the Global Investment Services Group at AEB. "Each portfolio represents an area of special skill for each of the managers selected."

In addition to Signature Portfolios American Express Bank's offshore asset management group manages over $3 billion in client assets. American Express has over $234 billion in owned, managed or administered assets including $2.3 billion in single manager equity and fixed income hedge funds.

American Express Private Bank is a global marketing name of AEB, a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Express Company, founded in 1919 with 75 locations in 41 countries. In addition to private banking, AEB also offers personal financial services, services for financial institutions and trading services.