American Express shares fall on report FBI investigating its forex pricing

• Shares of Amex fell more than 1 percent after The Wall Street Journal reported the FBI is looking into its foreign exchange business.
• The card issuer is being scrutinized for offering an introductory rate to bring in business and then hiking the rate without warning.

Mike Kemp | Contributor | Getty Images

American Express shares fell Wednesday after a report the Federal Bureau of Investigation is examining its foreign exchange pricing.

Shares fell 1.4 percent.

The investigation out of the FBI's Washington field office is in its early stages and is focused on whether the card company's foreign exchange international payments department misrepresented pricing to clients to get more business, according to the report in The Wall Street Journal.

Amex recruited business clients with offers of low currency-conversion rates and then jacked up the rates without warning, the WSJ reported in August. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has also been looking into how Amex disclosed pricing to customers, the WSJ reported.

Read The Wall Street Journal story here.