“Looking forward, I still expect our variable customer engagement expenses to grow slightly higher than our revenue on a full-year basis as we continue to focus on our premium products and drive engagement from our Card Members.”

In context

“of our diversified model continues to drive strong revenue growth momentum. I would note, as you think about the CFPB late fee rule, that late fees from our U.S. consumer segment make up a small portion, less than 1% of our overall revenue. While we have no specific plans to mitigate as of now, we are always looking at our pricing and policies in the ordinary course of business. Moving to expenses on Slide 16. Starting at the top of the page, variable customer engagement expenses came in at 40% of total revenues for the first quarter. As you look at these costs, I would note that Card Member rewards included a $196 million benefit as a result of enhancements to our remodels for estimating future membership rewards redemptions, some of which we reinvested for growth in our marketing line. Looking forward, I still expect our variable customer engagement expenses to grow slightly higher than our revenue on a full-year basis as we continue to focus on our premium products and drive engagement from our Card Members. On the marketing line, we increased investments to $1.5 billion in the first quarter. We continue to be pleased with the strong, high-quality customer acquisition and engagement we see as a result of these actions, and we are on track to increase marketing spend in 2024 versus last year. Moving to the bottom of Slide 16 brings us to operating expenses, which were $3.6 billion in the first quarter flat to last year's expense and in line with our expectations for the year. When you look at the components of our operating expenses, salaries and benefit grew modestly versus last year compared to the growth we've seen in this line over the past years. This reflect the discipline with which we manage our expenses and is a great example of how we're able to drive efficiency while continuing to g”