American Express has announced the launch of American Express Business Insights, a new analytics and consulting organization that Amex says "draws on the power and reach of the Company’s global network to help business customers develop better-informed strategies to grow their business." READ MORE

American Express has announced it has agreed to acquire Revolution Money. According to Amex, "the transaction, which is subject to regulatory review, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2010. The purchase price is expected to be approximately $300 million. Upon closing, Revolution Money would operate as a subsidiary of American Express and be the first component of its recently formed Enterprise Growth organization. Enterprise Growth was formed to leverage American Express’ existing assets and capabilities to generate incremental fee revenue and to drive the company’s entry into new payment areas and related businesses." READ MORE

Pentagon Federal Credit Union (PenFed) and American Express have announced a strategic new partnership under which PenFed will issue American Express-branded credit cards. The new PenFed Premium Travel Rewards American Express Card will carry the American Express logo and will be accepted on American Express' global merchant network.

According to the two companies, PenFed and American Express have an exclusive arrangement under which, for a limited time, PenFed will be the only credit union to issue an American Express-branded card in the United States. READ MORE

A new survey from American Express reports that 10 percent of consumers actually intend to open their wallets and spend more on holiday gifts relative to last year and 43 percent plan to spend about the same. In the next 30 days, more than one in five U.S. consumers (22%) expect to spend more when compared to the last 30 day period.

The latest American Express Spending & Saving Tracker, the third in a monthly series, reports about consumers’ views on the economy, what they plan to spend on and what motivates them to spend or save. The research sample of 2011 adults included the general U.S. population, as well as two subgroups – the affluent and young professionals. READ MORE

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Union Mobile Pay (UMPay) and American Express have launched the ICBC Mobile Payment American Express® Card, China’s first dual-currency credit card with mobile account payment capabilities and features. READ MORE

AP reports on American Express CEO Ken Chenault's presentation earlier today at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Banking Conference where he reported that cardholder spending in October actually increased 3% in October versus the same month in 2008 - the first sign of positive growth this year. Chenault's slide presentation and his prepared talking points are available online.

Earlier today, American Express reported financial results for the third quarter 2009. Overall for the quarter as compared to the prior year, billed business declined 11% to $156.6 billion, total cards in force declined 4% to 88.4 million and average basic cardholder spending declined 5% to $2,898. Receivables outstanding declined 31% in the Amex owned portfolio and 20% in the managed portfolio. The average merchant discount rate declined slightly from 2.56% to 2.54%.

GlobalPlatform, the international specification body for smart card infrastructure, has announced that American Express has joined as its newest Full Member. Amex’s initial focus will be to participate in GlobalPlatform’s current standardization efforts to support the convergence of the payment and mobile technical landscapes. READ MORE

I had a little bit of fun this afternoon - wondering out loud (on Twitter) if American Express was active on Twitter. So, I tweeted the question!

Less than an hour later, I had my reply - from Rachel at American Express - who asked if there was anything she could do. Very cool!

What did we learn? The American Express Customer Care Twitter account is AskAmex!

Saying it is "focused on providing relevant rewards during these difficult economic times," American Express has announced several enhancements to its Membership Rewards program including the a feature that allows Amex cardholders to use points toward “everyday” charges within their online statement. Amex also announced the launch of Membership Rewards Specials - a program featuring "great deals on popular rewards." In addition, a number of new partners have been added to the Membership Rewards program. READ MORE

American Express has announced Personal Savings from American Express, a new line of FDIC-insured certificates of deposit and high-yield savings accounts. The Personal Savings deposit accounts are offered by American Express Bank, FSB, a depository institution insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and part of the American Express family of companies. READ MORE

American Express has announced results from the first American Express Spending & Saving Tracker finding that, while 60 percent of respondents who participated said they intend to spend about the same or more in the next 30 days, (compared to the last 30 days), 40 percent plan to spend less. READ MORE

American Express has announced the launch of a new, integrated marketing campaign that Amex says "brings to life the benefits of the American Express Charge Card under the theme “Don’t Take Chances, Take Charge.” Breaking in newspapers today, the campaign also includes television, magazine, radio and online advertising, which will roll out in the weeks to come. The campaign is part of an ongoing effort to educate consumers about the Charge Card and explain why it is a smart way to pay, particularly in the current economic environment." READ MORE

In an article titled "Law Hits Home as Cards Opt Out of Overlimit Fees", Maria Aspan writes for the American Banker that American Express and Discover are both "eliminating overlimit fees on consumer credit cards, in one of the first concrete examples of how a new law will restrict issuers' abilities to turn a profit."

American Express today held a Financial Community Meeting in New York City. Along with the webcast, copies of the presentation slides used along with CEO Ken Chenault's opening and closing remarks are available online. Reuters covers the meeting highlights here.

American Express has announced financial results for the second quarter 2009 reporting that income declined 48% from the same quarter in the prior year to $342 million. Amex's billed business declined 16% on a worldwide basis to $151.4 billion. Average cardmember spending declined 15% to $2,712. Amex's merchant discount rate declined slightly to 2.55%.

American Express OPEN has announced the OPEN Forum, a new online resource and networking site for business owners. According to Amex, "the site is designed to forge meaningful business connections and provide practical, actionable information and insights from influential bloggers, industry leaders, and savvy entrepreneurs. In addition, the site will aggregate relevant online small business conversations from Twitter." READ MORE

Today's Heard on the Street column by Peter Eavis in the Wall St. Journal takes a look at American Express. Eavis writes: "The dilemma for AmEx is deciding how big its pure credit-card book, as opposed to classic charge cards, should be."

American Express has announced a new service that "provides American Express Charge Cardmembers with the ability to set spending limits for Additional Cards on their account. It’s the only consumer card on the market to offer this type of spending control. Now, instead of providing cash to their teenagers, other family members, the nanny, or other household helpers, Cardmembers can set, manage and track spending limits on Additional Cards, helping them to maintain a tighter household budget and track all family expenditures billed to their Card." READ MORE

In an article titled "Frequent Fliers, Choose Your Card", Justin Bachman writes for BusinessWeek about the battle between US Bank and American Express over the former US Bank/Northwest Airlines WorldPerks cardholders - now that Northwest is about to merge with Delta, longtime partner with American Express. Bachman writes: "The fight over this customer base has been ferocious."

In an article titled "Amex chief sticks to playing cards he knows", Matthew Garrahan writes for the Financial Times about American Express and CEO Ken Chenault.

Mr Chenault says: “In a crisis what you don’t do is hunker in the bunker. I’m very focused on the core advantages of our business model, what changes need to be made . . . and how to emerge stronger.”

American Express has announced a number of new benefits available through its Delta SkyMiles Credit Cards as well as the launch of what it is calling "a 360-degree marketing campaign to build awareness for the Cards in key Delta hubs that were formerly Northwest hubs within the U.S. including Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Memphis." READ MORE

Maria Aspan reports for the American Banker in Monday's edition that "U.S. Bancorp and American Express Co. are squaring off for a marketing battle that will be waged with reward programs but could be won on reputation." At stake are the cardholders of the Northwest WorldPerks Visa card (issued by US Bank) - with US Bank also competing for those cardholders with a new FlexPerks Visa card! See the next story for late news tonight about litigation brought by Northwest against US Bank.

Suzanne Ziegler reports for the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune about a lawsuit filed today by Northwest Airlines (now merged into Delta) against US Bank trying to stop the bank's efforts to migrate cardholders from the soon to be defunct Northwest Worldperks Visa card (issued by US Bank) to U.S. Bank's new FlexPerks Visa card. Delta is, of course, planning to move those cardholders to its American Express SkyMiles card.

American Express has reported financial results for the first quarter of 2009 - including a decline in total revenues of 18% with income of $443 million. Amex reported US card spending of more than $63 billion and said it has $207 billion in open credit lines to consumers and small businesses. Merchant discount revenue also declined 18% with the average discount rate down slightly to 2.56%. Average cardholder spending declines 18% worldwide to $2,443.

American Express this afternoon reported February statistics for its US credit card portfolio which showed that the net chargeoff rate grew from 8.1% to 8.6% (managed basic) while the total amount outstanding continued to decline.

First Data and American Express have announced a new merchant services agreement in Poland where First Data will become the exclusive merchant acquirer and merchant processor for American Express Card transactions in Poland. READ MORE

Elavon, the merchant acquiring subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp, has announced that it is the "first acquirer to commercially market the American Express OnePoint program to its third party sales channels, including Merchant Service Providers (MSP's) and Agent Banks." Under this program, Elavon says it performs all set up, processing, settlement, funding, customer support and reporting for eligible American Express acceptance, thereby providing merchants with one processing relationship for all major card brands. Elavon also offers OnePoint to merchants in its direct sales and alliance bank referral channels. READ MORE

In a story titled "Bruised AmEx Returns to Roots", Robin Sidel writes for the Wall St. Journal that "AmEx is reeling from late payments and defaults by customers it aggressively wooed before the U.S. economy tumbled into recession."

Mary Pilon writes for the Wall St. Journal about the news that came out over the weekend that American Express has begun offering certain of its credit card customers a $300 American Express Gift Card in exchange for them paying off their outstanding balance by the end of April. A company spokeswoman said that the offer was made to a "small number of cardmembers who have sizeable balances and little spending and payment activity."