{"id":526219,"date":"2026-03-25T12:16:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T16:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.paymentsjournal.com\/?p=526219"},"modified":"2026-03-25T12:16:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T16:16:23","slug":"good-business-at-american-express","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paymentsjournal.com\/good-business-at-american-express\/","title":{"rendered":"Good Business at American Express"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Amex and I go back to 1998, when I was growing up in the world of bank cards, learning the wonders of carrying revolving debt. But I aspired to have an American Express card, specifically, their \u201cgreen card.\u201d The business model was different than the Mastercard and Visa in my wallet.  It shifted my thinking from carrying a balance on my card to spending only what I could afford to paying in full monthly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can revolve now at Amex, but the discipline has been burned into my budget for years, and for that, I always think of saying \u201cthank you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staying Power<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So much has gone on at American Express in the past few years. Steve Squeri became CEO in 2018 after Ken Chenault retired. If the payments industry ever had a \u201cHall of Fame,\u201d Chenault would be high on the list. Among other things, he coined the word \u201cspendcentric\u201d to illustrate that American Express\u2019 strategy was to build credit relationships based on transactional fees, which were less risky than bank strategies that built revenue on risk-based interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his shareholder letter, dated yesterday, Squeri lists six topics in his annual review:<\/p>\n\n\n\n