American Express

Founded in 1850, American Express introduced the world's first traveller's cheque in 1891 and later launched iconic products such as the Platinum Card and the metal Black Card.

As a leading U.S. bank holding company and multinational financial services provider, American Express (Amex) is one of the world's major payment networks and credit card brands. Through extensive partnerships with third-party banks and institutions, American Express is continuously expanding its global payment ecosystem. In 2025, American Express partnered with Antom to enable local acquiring and e-wallet payments for cross-border e-commerce. With a single integration, merchants can accept payments from American Express, Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Alipay+, and other leading card associations/digital wallets. Today, American Express provides merchant acquiring services in over 200 countries and regions worldwide and is recognised as the largest single card issuer globally. Its business spans online and cross-border payments, credit cards, travel and lifestyle services, merchant acquiring and processing, settlement, fraud prevention, POS marketing and information services, and financial products. 2024 data shows that American Express holds a 4.5% share of the global credit card payment market. However, within the United States, 99% of merchants that accept credit cards also accept American Express payments.

American Express attracts consumers through value-added services and loyalty programs, with a high proportion of premium cardholders. Data shows that the average spending of American Express cardholders is three to four times higher than that of Visa and Mastercard cardholders, revealing their strong purchasing power. As of 2024, American Express's worldwide billed business (total spending on Amex-issued cards) reached US$1,551 billion, with 146 million cards-in-force. In terms of transaction volume, American Express ranks third in the U.S. credit card market, following Visa and Mastercard. Nevertheless, it enjoys exceptionally high acceptance in developed markets such as the U.S., U.K., Japan, and Australia, while its international expansion continues to accelerate, with global acceptance having tripled over the past seven years.

Properties

The following table summarises the main features and applicable use cases of American Express credit card payments, covering essential elements such as merchant acquiring, supported currencies, 3D Secure, recurring payments (MIT), and refund options, which will help businesses optimise their payment method selection and risk management.

[1] Partial refund is conditional and requires additional approval to be enabled.

User experience

This section shows the user experience of American Express in different scenarios:

API integration

This section shows the difference in user experience between those PCI and non-PCI qualified under the API integration.

PCI qualified

This section shows the difference between the first-time and subsequent payments under the PCI qualified.

First-time payment

This section shows the difference between Web and app when making the first-time payment under the PCI qualified.

Web

App

Subsequent payments

This section shows the difference between Web and app when making the subsequent payments under the PCI qualified.

Web

App

Non-PCI qualified

This section shows the difference between the first-time and subsequent payments under the non-PCI qualified.

First-time payment

This section shows the difference between Web and app when making the first-time payment under the non-PCI qualified.

Web

App

Subsequent payments

This section shows the difference between Web and app when making the subsequent payments under the non-PCI qualified.

Web

App

SDK integration

This section shows the difference between the first-time and subsequent payments under the SDK integration.

First-time payment

This section shows the difference between Web and app when making the first-time payment under the SDK integration.

Web

App

Subsequent payments

This section shows the difference between Web and app when making the subsequent payments under the SDK integration.

Web

App

As a premium credit card payment method, American Express is widely used in B2C, cross-border e-commerce, and subscription-based payment scenarios. Through API integration or checkout solutions, merchants can quickly enable international acquiring and multi-currency settlement.

Choose American Express payments for growth across the world

Whether you are expanding your cross-border e-commerce business or looking to optimise mobile credit card payments, American Express provides secure and efficient payment support through a stable merchant acquiring network, strict PCI compliance, and a robust risk management system.

For more details on how Antom integrates American Express via API/SDK, refer to the tables and examples in this document to boost payment conversion rates and lower operational risks.

FAQs

1. Who are American Express's core customer groups?

American Express has long focused on high-net-worth individuals, businesses, and SME owners, leveraging exclusive benefits and comprehensive business solutions to establish a strong high-end market position. Furthermore, American Express has successfully cultivated Millennials, Gen Z, and international customers as its fastest-growing segments. Through innovative products, digital experiences, and global network expansion, American Express maintains a strong competitive edge in the global payments market.

2. Why is Gen Z an important consumer group for American Express?

Gen Z is becoming an increasingly significant segment in American Express's strategic planning. Gen Z currently represents approximately 40% of the total market share and is expected to become the largest consumer group in the global payments market by 2030. Their mindset and spending behaviours are reshaping market trends. Compared with Millennials, Gen Z is more inclined to spend online for enjoyment, relaxation, and inspiration, treating payments as part of their lifestyle. Millennials, in contrast, place greater emphasis on convenience, price comparison, and the practical benefits of avoiding in-store shopping. These generational differences drive American Express to tailor product design and marketing strategies based on distinct payment motivations.

3. What value-added services does American Express offer to merchants?

Beyond payment processing, American Express offers a wide range of value-added services designed to help merchants grow and optimise business operations. These include data analytics tools (providing consumer insight reports to help merchants better understand customer behaviour), marketing solutions (such as Amex Offers, which encourage cardholder spending), fraud prevention services (advanced risk management with multiple safeguards that help minimise transaction risks), industry-specific support (customised solutions for sectors like travel, dining, and retail), and global network support (especially valuable for merchants with international customers or cross-border operations).

4. What is the Interchange++ pricing model?

Interchange++ is a highly transparent payment pricing model. This model accurately tracks the interchange fees and card network settlement fees incurred for each transaction, and it can calculate the cost estimate for a transaction before the payment is completed. With this precise, transaction-level pricing model, merchants can clearly understand the actual cost breakdown for each payment.

5. Does Antom charge an initial system fee or monthly service fee?

Antom's basic acquiring products do not charge any system setup fees, monthly service fees, technical integration fees, or account cancellation fees. If you would like to learn more about the specific service terms and fee structure, please contact our sales team, who will provide a customised service plan based on your business needs.