American Express Company

Amex Combines Virtual Account Numbers And Centralized Business Travel Accounts

Amid a steady flow of announcements about virtual payment in corporate travel, American Express is putting on a different spin. It has created a model that combines the single-use concept of virtual account numbers with the centralized Business Travel Account setup. Amex’s “enhanced BTA” now is available in Australia and the United Kingdom, with additional…

Challenges Could Make A Fiercer American Express

It’s a tricky time for the world’s largest corporate card provider. American Express’ recent financial performance is “disappointing,” said chairman and CEO Kenneth Chenault. An antitrust suit with potentially wide and expensive implications still is pending. Amex recently lost a couple big consumer co-branding partnerships. Average fees charged to merchants are dropping, and will keep…

What To Know About The Chip Card Shift

A liability shift in October will transfer responsibility for covering U.S. card payment fraud to the party with less secure payment technology. Cards with chips are considered safer because they generate a unique code for each transaction, making counterfeiting seemingly impossible. Merchant locations without terminals capable of reading chip cards will be on the hook…

American Express Must Tell Merchants They Can Openly Favor Competing Cards, And Soon

[UPDATE, Dec. 22, 2016: The U.S. Department of Justice last month filed a petition for a rehearing. It said the appeals court’s reversal relied on “the mistaken belief that [antitrust] principles cannot properly account for the interdependence” of the two sides of Amex’s platform, merchants and cardholders. Several parties have since filed amicus briefs.] [UPDATE,…

JPMorgan Chase Exit From International Commercial Card Market Leaves Clients, Partners Scrambling

JPMorgan Chase will exit the international commercial card business at the end of the year, and that has partners and clients scrambling. Competitors including American Express and Citi stand to benefit from an unscheduled influx of requests for proposals. Unplanned is how one JPMorgan Chase corporate card customer described the situation. “We got official notice in January,” said…

GPS Tracking Apps Test Privacy Boundaries

IJet International released apps in December on Android and January on iOS that can track travelers using global positioning system capabilities. The app brings to the everyday smartphone a level of realtime tracking traditionally available only through expensive satellite-based devices. Typically only used in high-risk environments, the Critical Trac app still is not a “mass-market…

Amex May Face Tougher Competition Following Court Decision

A federal court in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Thursday ordered American Express to revise its merchant agreements. Provisions that bar merchants from preferring another form of payment need modification or elimination, the court found. Absent a winning appeal, the decision seems likely to hurt Amex’s competitiveness. It appears merchants such as airlines would be free to promote…

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