American Express Co. Debuted its first-ever checking account as the card giant hopes to win over more U.S. Small businesses.
The firm’s new checking account—which comes with an annual percentage yield of 1.1%—will target small enterprises across the U.S., AmEx said in a statement Monday. The firm also will begin offering as much as $150,000 in lines of credit to existing customers.
AmEx is already a giant in the world of small business, counting itself as the top card issuer for those companies, and says that its portfolio is larger than those of its five closest competitors combined. The new offerings come after AmEx last year acquired Kabbage, a financial-technology company that focuses on offering loans to small businesses.
“The checking account is an opportunity for us to broaden our reach to smaller businesses,” Anna Marrs, group president of global commercial services and credit and fraud risk, said in an interview. Those are firms that are “just getting stood up, particularly in a post-pandemic world, who might not have the ability or need to borrow at this time.”
Small businesses have, in some cases, been recovering faster than consumers and even large corporations, according to AmEx. In April alone, spending on AmEx cards by U.S. Small-to-medium-sized enterprises jumped 6% from the same period in 2019, before the pandemic. Excluding travel and entertainment, such billings jumped 18%.
Small businesses “are emerging from this pandemic with a whole lot of growth,” Marrs said. “We’re looking for ways to help them scale up and grow.”
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