American Express Wins DALBAR Seal of Excellence for Its Mutual Fund Annual Reports.

Business Editors

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 14, 2003

DALBAR, Inc. announced today that American Express was awarded the DALBAR Seal of Excellence for its mutual fund annual reports. The Seal is awarded to outstanding mutual fund annual reports that effectively and efficiently meet the needs of investors. Before awarding the Seal, DALBAR conducts a series of tests on the mutual fund annual reports to establish that they meet the principal objectives of its audience.

The results of these tests indicate that the mutual fund annual reports successfully meet the requirements of investors and is outstanding in:

-- Clarity, organization and presentation. In particular, the

market update from American Express' CIO, Ted Truscott, is

outstanding in explaining market events and their impact on

the funds, as well as providing an outlook for the market that

investors can easily understand.

"American Express Funds shareholders want both consistent fund performance and useful information that helps them understand the product they are investing in," said Paula Meyer, president of American Express Funds. "We're continually striving to improve and enhance our shareholder reports to educate investors on how our funds fit in their financial planning strategy."

The award of the DALBAR Seal gives American Express the right to display the image of the Seal on its mutual fund annual reports or make reference to them for twelve months. American Express paid DALBAR a nonrefundable fee for conducting the tests that determined the qualification for the Seal.

DALBAR, Inc., the nation's leading financial-services market research firm, continues its over 25 year commitment to raising the standards of excellence in the industry. With offices in both the US and Canada, DALBAR develops standards for, and provides research, ratings, and rankings of intangible factors to the mutual fund, broker/dealer, managed account, life insurance and property and casualty insurance industries. They include behavior, customer opinion, service quality, communications, Internet services, and financial-professional ratings. www.dalbar.com

American Express manages its investment operations from the American Express Financial Corporation headquarters in Minneapolis as well as satellite offices in Boston, Cambridge, New York, San Diego, London, Tokyo and Singapore. The company owns and manages approximately $200 billion in assets for individuals and institutions through more than 100 investment, insurance and savings products it manufactures and services.

American Express Company (NYSE: AXP) is a diversified worldwide travel, financial and network services company founded in 1850. It is a world leader in charge and credit cards, Travelers Cheques, travel, financial planning, business services, insurance and international banking.