Our strong performance across a number of key business metrics helped deliver revenue growth of 30% in the fourth quarter and 17% for the full year.
Diluted earnings per share for the quarter was $2.18 and $10.02 for the full year.
In the near term, we expect full-year revenue growth to remain at elevated levels, reaching 18% to 20% in 2022, driven by the execution of our growth plan and the recovery tailwinds we anticipate from continued improvement in the macroeconomic environment.
We expect earnings per share of between $9.25 and $9.65 in 2022.
Looking further out, as we return to a more steady-state economic environment, we aspire to achieve revenue growth in excess of 10% and earnings per share growth in the mid-teens under our new growth plan for 2024 and beyond.
Spending growth reached a record quarterly high, driven by continued increases in goods and services spending, which was 24% above pre-pandemic levels.
Global Consumer goods and services spending in the quarter grew 26% versus 2019.
And we saw continued robust growth in small business B2B spending, which increased 25% over Q4 2019 levels.
Overall, T&E spending also continued to improve, reaching 82% of pre-pandemic levels, driven by stronger consumer travel spending.
For example, retention rates in Global Consumer are above 98%.
New card acquisitions reached 2.7 million in Q4, driven by strong demand for our premium fee-based products, where we saw acquisitions nearly double year over year.
In Consumer, millennials and Gen Z customers are driving the growth in acquisitions, representing around 60% of the new accounts we acquired globally in 2021.
You see the growth momentum that Steve just discussed in our summary financials on Slide 2, with fourth-quarter revenues of $12.1 billion, up 31%, and full-year revenues of $42.4 billion, up 17%, both on an FX-adjusted basis.
In understanding our full-year net income of $8.1 billion and earnings per share $10.02, I would point out that we had around $3.5 billion of significant impacts from items that we do not expect to repeat in the same magnitude going forward, including a $2.5 billion credit reserve release benefit in provision, as well as a few sizable net gains on equity investments.
You'll notice in the several views of volumes on Slides 3 through 9 that we continued to show 2021 volume trends on both a year-over-year basis and relative to 2019.
To start, we saw record levels of spending on our network in both the fourth quarter and full year 2021, with total network volumes and Billed business volumes both up more than 10% relative to 2019 on an FX-adjusted basis in the fourth quarter, as you can see on Slide 3.
This growth in Billed business, as shown on Slides 4 and 5, is being driven by continued momentum in spending on goods and services, which strengthened sequentially and grew 24% versus 2019 in Q4.
Importantly, this 24% growth versus 2019 in Q4 represents a cumulative growth rate over the past two years that is well above the growth rate we were seeing pre-pandemic.
In our Consumer business, our focus on attracting and engaging younger cohorts of Card Members through expanding our value propositions and digital capabilities is fueling the 50% growth in spending from our millennial and Gen Z customers you see on Slide 6.
Global SME spending, particularly B2B spending on goods and services, has been driving the growth of our Commercial Billed business throughout 2021 and reached 25% above pre-pandemic levels in Q4.
You can see on Slide 8 that it continues to recover in line with our expectations, with overall T&E spending reaching 82% of 2019 levels in the fourth quarter.
But even with that modest slowdown, U.S. Consumer T&E was not only fully recovered in the fourth quarter but actually grew 8% above 2019 levels.
Finally, on Slide 9, you see that our Billed business momentum continues to be led by the U.S., where spending improved sequentially throughout 2021 and grew 16% above 2019 levels in the fourth quarter.
Turning next to credit and provision on Slides 11 through 13.
The strong credit performance, combined with continued improvement in the macroeconomic outlook throughout 2021, drove a $1.4 billion provision expense benefit for the full year as the low write-offs were fully offset by the reserve releases, as shown on Slide 12.
As you see on Slide 13, we ended 2021 with $3.4 billion of reserves, representing 3.7% of our loan balances, and 0.1% of our Card Member receivable balances, respectively.
In 2022, we will be growing over the $2.5 billion reserve release benefit we saw in 2021 since I would not expect to see reserve releases of the same magnitude going forward.
Total revenues were up 30% year over year in the fourth quarter, up 17% for the full year.
You see it grew 36% year over year in Q4 and 25% for the full year on an FX-adjusted basis.
Net card fee revenues have grown consistently throughout the pandemic and, for the full year of 2021, were up 10% year over year and up 28% versus 2019, as you can see on Slide 16.
You can see that it was up 11% year over year in the fourth quarter.
Looking forward into 2022, we expect to see revenue growth of 18% to 20%, driven by the continued strong growth in spend and card fee revenues and the lingering recovery tailwinds from net interest income and travel-related revenues.
Putting all these dynamics together, I'd expect variable customer engagement costs overall to run at around 42% of total revenues in 2022.
Operating expenses were just over $11 billion for full year 2021 and in line with 2020.
Understanding our opex results, however, it's important to point out that we benefited from $767 million in net mark-to-market gains in our Amex Ventures strategic investment portfolio in 2021 and that these gains are reported in the opex line.
For 2022, we expect our operating expenses to be a bit over $12 billion, and we see these costs as a key source of leverage relative to our much higher level of revenue growth.
Last, our effective tax rate for 2021 was around 25%.
You can see on Slide 20 that we invested around $1.6 billion in marketing in the fourth quarter and $5.3 billion for the full year as we continue to ramp up new card acquisitions while winding down our value injection efforts.
We acquired 2.7 million new cards, up 54% year over year.
Steve emphasized the critical point, however, that, in particular, we see great demand for our premium fee-based products, with new accounts acquired on these products almost doubling year over year and representing 67% of the new accounts acquired in the quarter.
Looking forward, we expect to spend around $5 billion in marketing in 2022.
We returned $9 billion of capital to our shareholders in 2021, including common stock repurchases of $7.6 billion and $1.4 billion in common stock dividends on the back of a starting excess capital position and strong earnings generation.
As a result, we ended the year with our CET1 ratio back within our target range, 10% to 11%.
In Q1 2022 and another sign of our growing confidence in our growth prospects, we expect to increase our dividend by around 20% to $0.52 and to continue to return to shareholders the excess capital we generate while supporting our balance sheet growth.
In the near term, we expect our revenue growth to be significantly higher than our long-term aspiration due to the range of pandemic recovery tailwinds that I've talked about throughout my remarks, which is why we have given 2022 guidance of 18% to 20% revenue growth.
We've also given earnings per share guidance for 2022 of $9.25 to $9.65.
Longer term, as we get to a more steady-state macro environment, we have an aspiration of delivering revenue growth in excess of 10% and mid-teens earnings per share growth on a sustainable basis in 2024 and beyond.

Summary:
Diluted earnings per share for the quarter was $2.18 and $10.02 for the full year.
Looking further out, as we return to a more steady-state economic environment, we aspire to achieve revenue growth in excess of 10% and earnings per share growth in the mid-teens under our new growth plan for 2024 and beyond.
You see the growth momentum that Steve just discussed in our summary financials on Slide 2, with fourth-quarter revenues of $12.1 billion, up 31%, and full-year revenues of $42.4 billion, up 17%, both on an FX-adjusted basis.
To start, we saw record levels of spending on our network in both the fourth quarter and full year 2021, with total network volumes and Billed business volumes both up more than 10% relative to 2019 on an FX-adjusted basis in the fourth quarter, as you can see on Slide 3.
Net card fee revenues have grown consistently throughout the pandemic and, for the full year of 2021, were up 10% year over year and up 28% versus 2019, as you can see on Slide 16.
Looking forward into 2022, we expect to see revenue growth of 18% to 20%, driven by the continued strong growth in spend and card fee revenues and the lingering recovery tailwinds from net interest income and travel-related revenues.
As a result, we ended the year with our CET1 ratio back within our target range, 10% to 11%.
Longer term, as we get to a more steady-state macro environment, we have an aspiration of delivering revenue growth in excess of 10% and mid-teens earnings per share growth on a sustainable basis in 2024 and beyond.