EXCLUSIVE— Small businesses looking for capital mostly have to deal with banks that have data and assets but no speed, or with marketplace lenders who have speed but may not have an adequate amount of data or assets.

Credit card company American Express thinks it can slide neatly into that gap with its new Business Loans product, announced yesterday, which aims to use the company’s brand reputation, data caches, and funds to service those SMBs.

“Businesses looking to expand have a couple of options—they can go to a bank for loans, which can be a long process, or they can go to lender, which is a shorter process but a higher price,” Gina Taylor Cotter, SVP and general manager, global commercial financing, American Express, told Bank Innovation.

Cotter added that AmEx “has a lot of small businesses leveraging our closed loop,” which means that they can use that unique data and access to better equip those companies with loans.

The loans are currently available to SMBs which are current American Express OPEN cardmembers, and range from $3,500 to $50,000 over terms of one to three years. The company did not disclose how many small businesses are OPEN cardmembers currently.

The structure of the loans is meant to appeal to those businesses who are looking for smaller amounts (typically harder to manage for a bank) but with a bit more structure and a bit less cost (typically harder to manage for a marketplace lender).

AmEx is relying on its established relationships and brand awareness for the product; the company has been working with SMBs for about 25 years, according to Cotter.

Additionally, the loan application process is “fast and easy,” Cotter said, made more so because AmEx is not actually offering the product to all OPEN cardmembers: rather, the company is offering these loans to select businesses, who will see their pre-approved offer and APR as soon as they log into their account.

In approach, this is quite similar to how Goldman Sachs, another legacy brand in banking, approached retail lending with Marcus. Goldman originally brought clients into that service via mail offer.

AmEx did not disclose how many SMBs have received loan offers so far.