American Express Australia reported its second loss in a row in the year to December 2008, annual financial statements for the corporate and consumer credit provider show.Amex reported a loss of $92.5 million in 2008 compared with a loss of $10.7 million in 2007."Several significant non-recurring items" wear the blame for the loss, according to the financial statements.One drag is the Australian business' share of the worldwide cuts to staff and other costs adopted in late 2008 in response to the global financial crisis, worth $14.8 million, described as "major reengineering program to enhance profitability" in the financial statements.A second is the start-up costs of the co-branded credit card with retail chain David Jones.A third is "protecting credit quality in the face of higher loss rates and delinquencies compared to 12 months ago". On this point the financials, signed last month, also disclose that American Express is currently considering an additional reserve for the Australian business. Receivables growth was modest, with loans of $5.9 billion at December 2008, up from $5.7 billion at the end of 2007. Of this, $3.0 billion were credit card receivables, up $200 million, while $1.8 billion were charge card receivables, down $300 million.The personal lending book, which is now in run off, was $86.4 million at the end of the year.Past due loans were $509 million at the end of 2008, down from $516 million 2007. The bad debt charge to the profit and loss was $181 million in 2008, up from $165 million in 2007.