American Express Co. is closing customer-service centers in Madrid, Spain, and in Greensboro, N.C., because the locations have become too understaffed to maintain, the New York-based company announced Jan. 19.
Those facilities have become the victims of technology, rendered obsolete by a large number of routine transactions that have migrated to mobile phones and the Internet, AmEx said.
The moves will cost about 550 jobs, and about 3,500 employees will be affected in some way by the change, according to. AmEx, which expects to save about $70 million annually from the consolidation beginning next year.
In its fourth quarter earnings report, AmEx said it expected roughly $133 million in charges in the wake of its decision. This year, severance and real-estate charges would cost the company between $60 million and $80 million.
AmEx plans to announce its fourth-quarter results Jan. 24.
