07:52 AM EDT, 07/19/2024 (MT Newswires) -- (Adds statement from American Express ( AXP ) in fourth paragraph.)

American Express' ( AXP ) local unit was fined 8 million Australian dollars ($5.4 million) for breaching design and distribution rules for two of its co-branded credit cards, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission said Friday.

The country's Federal Court found that AmEx Australia did not properly determine the target market when it distributed two credit cards primarily to customers of luxury brand David Jones between late May and early July 2022, ASIC said.

AmEx Australia "ought to have known high canceled application rates reasonably suggested that the target market determinations for the cards were no longer appropriate," the regulator said.

An AmEx spokesperson said the company acknowledges it "should have acted sooner" to review the target market determination.

"American Express Australia stopped acquiring new David Jones American Express customers in July 2022 and announced the end of its co-brand card issuing relationship with David Jones in January 2023," the spokesperson said in an emailed statement to MT Newswires, adding that the local unit no longer acquires any card members through third-party sales channels.

Price: 244.90, Change: -4.30, Percent Change: -1.73