Latest news with #SteveSqueri
Hans India
4 days ago
- Business
- Hans India
American Express to Upgrade Platinum Cards with New Benefits and Lounges
American Express (Amex) will make big changes to its US Consumer and Business Platinum Cards later this year. This is the biggest update they have ever made to these cards. The Platinum Card started more than 40 years ago and is still popular, especially with Millennials and Gen Z. These groups made up 35% of all US consumer spending last quarter. Howard Grosfield, head of US Consumer Services, said the new changes will improve travel, dining, and lifestyle benefits and also update the card's look to better suit customers' needs. Amex gives access to more airport lounges than any other card company, with over 1,550 lounges worldwide. They have 32 special Centurion Lounges and will open three new ones soon in Newark, Salt Lake City, and Tokyo. Amex CEO Steve Squeri wants to attract more young, rich customers. The upgrade will happen by late summer or early fall. The company will keep the popular benefits and add new brand partnerships. In July 2021, Amex raised the Platinum Card fee to $695 and added $200 in hotel credits each year. Since then, they face strong competition from cards like JPMorgan Chase's Sapphire Reserve and Capital One's Venture X Rewards. The updates will be for both consumer and business Platinum Cards. Amex will add more useful benefits for business card users, like flexible spending limits, rewards on business costs, virtual cards, and tools to manage cash flow. Business card members will still get lounge, dining, and hotel benefits. One of the best parts of the Platinum Card is its large lounge network. A new Centurion Lounge will open at Tokyo's Haneda Airport soon, along with the planned lounges in Newark and Salt Lake City.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
American Express hints at a big upgrade to its Platinum card, designed to lure a lucrative and fast-growing segment of customers
Amex CEO Steve Squeri wants more high-spending Millennials and Gen Z-ers to join his company's upper echelon ranks. And he's starting to give hints of just how exactly he plans to lure more of them to the fold, announcing on June 16 that the company will implement a big upgrade late this summer, or in the early fall to its Platinum card. The company says this will be its biggest investment ever in a card program. 'We'll see two areas of investments,' adds Howard Grosfield, Group President for U.S. Consumer Services. 'We'll double down on all the things our cardmembers love now. And we'll be adding lots of exciting new brands.' Amex has positioned the Platinum card as the most expensive in its class at $695 a year (Chase Sapphire at a comparable level costs $550.) But as Grosfield points out, the Millennials and Gen Z crowd believe they're reaping value well beyond the annual price of entry. The proof: The groups covering the mid-20s to mid-40s age spectrum now comprise 75% of Amex's new accounts acquired on its two premium cards, Platinum and Gold, for 2024, up from 60% in 2019. Gen Z consumer card members grew 40% in Q1 2025 versus Q1 2024, yet the credit record for the two demographics proved better than the industry average. Last quarter alone, Millennial and Gen Z accounted for total 35% U.S. consumer spend. The fast-rising numbers signing on at $695 helped increase net card fee revenue last year by 18%. These youthful troops, says Amex, are proving extremely loyal. The company doesn't disclose quit rates by category, but avows that its all-in retention figure stands at 98%. The strategy dates back to 2021, when three years into the job, Squeri reckoned that the financial services giant's best path to growth lay in attracting a far younger generation of shoppers than the affluent boomers that had traditionally formed his enterprise's—and the industry's—main target. Squeri took aim at Millennials, now 29 to 44, and Gen Z'ers, today's twenty-somethings, and narrowed his sweet-spot for Platinum to the high-income layer boasting excellent credit records. Prior to that refresh, the Platinum benefits focused on travel, chiefly offering deals on the likes of hotel stays, airfares, and access to airport lounges. As the COVID lockdown lifted, Squeri and his team reckoned that the Millennial and Gen Z elite would be craving fresh adventures. So Amex greatly broadened its offerings to cover the breadth of their athletic, treat-seeking lifestyles by adding perks in entertainment, wellness and upscale shopping. Amex also recognized that this cohort comprising everything from lawyers, to investment bankers, to software engineers and rising executives didn't pay like their parents. These were digital natives who often didn't even carry cash, and charged virtually everything on their cards. They were earning more points toward more goodies than any other generations, and getting hooked. Plus, they relished apps that by tapping a few clicks, could bring them a seat in the hottest new restaurants that were always 'booked,' or arrange a tennis lesson on red clay courts during business trip to Paris. The carrot that attracted the younger generation: a new array of perks covering all territories of their leisure lives. They added a digital entertainment benefit award of $240 a year towards subscriptions for such providers as the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu. Amex tapped the Millennial and Gen Z yen for Uber by awarding $200 a year for rides on the service, and cardholders garner $300 each towards memberships at Equinox and SoulCycle. As for shopping, Platinum bridges luxe to daily staples, furnishing a $100 credit at Saks Fifth Avenue and Walmart+ membership offering discounts on fuel and in-home pickups for returns. The travel services are trending more more and more to the one-on-one and bespoke: AMEX's crew of 7,000 personal travel consultants can plan your itinerary for holidays in Croatia or book you at a rock concert at Wembley. AMEX also hit an ace by making a major foray into restaurant reservations. Its first move came in 2018, the year Squeri advanced to CEO, via the acquisition of Resy; its app guarantees Platinum holders bookings at super-popular eateries where it would normally take days or weeks to get a table. Today, Resi partners with 20,000 restaurants in thirty countries, and last year bought Tock, another big player that added 7,000 culinary partners, including for the first time, wineries from Napa to the Loire Valley. 'We're the only credit card operator with our own restaurant reservations platform,' says Amex's Grosfield. 'We unlock access to the world's most sought-after tables.' This story was originally featured on Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Amex leans into B2B payments
This story was originally published on Payments Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Payments Dive newsletter. 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. Recommended Reading Amex offers virtual card to small businesses
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Rich Still Swiping: Amex Defies Tariffs, Crushes Wall Street Forecasts
American Express (NYSE:AXP) is doing what it does bestleaning on wealthy spenders who aren't flinching, even as tariffs and economic noise rattle the rest of the market. First-quarter earnings per share rose 9% to $3.64, beating Wall Street's expectations, and total billed business hit $387.4 billion, up 6% year-over-year. While that fell slightly short of analyst targets, it wasn't enough to shake Amex's full-year forecast. The company is sticking to its guidance: 8%10% revenue growth and earnings between $15 and $15.50 a share. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Signs with F. CEO Steve Squeri summed it up bluntly: The Amex customer is acting like the Amex customer has acted. Translation? No slowdown. No panic. Even as tariffs and grocery bills climb, the company's high-income cardholderswho pay a premium for rewardsare still spending like it's business as usual. Squeri added that April trends are holding strong, with no signs of hesitation among Amex's core demographic. This cohort may not be recession-proof, but they're certainly recession-resistant. Beyond the numbers, Amex is playing both defense and offense. It set aside $1.2 billion for potential loan lossesless than expectedand made a strategic move to acquire expense management startup Center. Leadership is also shifting, with enterprise services president Anre Williams set to exit later this year. Through it all, the playbook is clear: bet on the big spenders, ride out the noise, and build for long-term profitabilitytariffs or not. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
