Amex leans into B2B payments

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21 hours ago

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American Express is nudging corporate clients to use their cards more regularly for business payments, CEO Steve Squeri said in a presentation last week. The push comes as Amex prepares for economic uncertainty.
The card giant is looking for ways to increase business-to-business spending by clients who hold corporate or small business cards used for work-related purchases, he said.
The New York City-based card company already offers an array of corporate cards that business owners and managers can use for work expenses, but aims to make those cards usable for a wider range of business-related purchases, Squeri said, although he provided few details.
The CEO made the comments on May 29 at the Bernstein 41st Annual Strategic Decisions Conference in New York City. "We can do a better job of making more B2B payments viable," he said. "That means on both the card member side and the merchant side."
Looking at costs for customers could be one way to achieve that goal, Squeri said. "There is a point where the right pricing decisions drive some more volume there," he said, although he did not elaborate.
The acquisition of expense management platform Center was part of the company's push to expand B2B payment volume, Squeri said.
'It [Center] will ultimately become part of the Blueprint platform,' about which he said, 'It's got access to your card account, it's got a cash flow analysis, it's got working capital. We'll integrate travel into that,' he said. 'And so, think about that as a platform going forward for small and midsize businesses.'
American Express is also "building out a global, multi-rail B2B network to act as a digital, one-stop shop where any business can buy and sell easily, quickly, and in one place, no matter what kind of payment is required," an Amex spokesperson said in an email.
The spokesperson also stressed that the company's foothold in B2B payments goes beyond corporate and business credit cards, and includes partnerships with B2B payment companies such as Boost and Versapay.
The card network has taken steps to upgrade its offerings for businesses recently. Last month, for example, American Express gave small business owners access to a virtual credit card that was previously available only to corporate clients.
While Squeri did not explicitly link the company's pursuit of B2B payment volume with a possible recession, Amex is turning to business customers as consumer sentiment wavers in the face of economic uncertainty. The card network's cardholders change their spending habits when faced with economic uncertainty, Squeri said."When our cardholders get stressed, they spend a little bit less," Squeri said.
Even after President Donald Trump walked back his most aggressive tariffs, economists pointed to a higher-than-average chance of a recession this year.
JPMorgan Chase put the odds of the economy slipping into a recession this year at 40% in a report published on May 27, but even if that scenario were avoided, the bank's economists said the U.S. could still see tepid economic growth in the months to come.
The bank's prediction was made before the president doubled tariffs on steel and aluminum Wednesday, which could worsen the economic picture by increasing prices in the U.S.
Joblessness is something Amex is monitoring closely, more so than the volatile stock market, the company's CEO said. "The thing we really watch for is the unemployment rate," Squeri said.
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