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American Express Co. on Friday restated its earnings for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, resulting in a dramatic increase in net income for the company and its U.S. card services segment. A calculation error related to fair-value hedging resulted in a $108 million reduction in quarterly expenses, AmEx said in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. AmEx previously reported its fourth-quarter results on Jan. 26 (CardLine, 1/27). In the U.S. Card Services segment, net income for the quarter was adjusted upward to $64 million from the $4 million previously reported. During the same quarter a year earlier, the segment reported net income of $7 million. The Global Commercial Services division's revised fourth-quarter results now reflect a loss of $7 million compared with $18 million reported previously. During the fourth quarter of 2007, the division reported net income of $110 million. As a company, AmEx's revised fourth-quarter net income rose to $240 million from $172 million previously reported, an increase of 39.5%. The company's fourth-quarter income in 2007 was $831 million.
