A Clash of Corporate Styles

Can an independent financier whose family has been in banking since the Ottoman Empire find happiness working for American Express? The answer seems to be no. In 1983, American Express bought Edmond J. Safra's Trade Development Bank for $520 million in cash and securities. Lebanese-born Safra is one of the world's most respected moneymen. He built a banking empire by giving meticulous attention to the accounts of wealthy Middle Easterners. What better way for American Express's bank to hit world-class status than to hire a world-class banker? Safra was offered the company's top banking job, and he moved into the post in February. The marriage did not last long. Safra, 52, quit last week.

His personalized style did not work in the American Express bureaucracy. Said one Wall Streeter: "He did not mesh well in a large organization." American Express is trying to minimize any damage to itself. It negotiated a no-competition agreement with Safra that runs through March 1988. The parent company also named Safra to its board and agreed to allow him to buy back some of the other properties he sold to American Express in 1983.