AmEx: No debit card plans despite Venmo integration

Don’t expect American Express to launch a debit card anytime in the immediate future. During the card company’s second-quarter earnings call, Stephen Squeri, chief executive at AmEx, said that while debit cards are “something that we constantly look at,” AmEx won’t be issuing debit cards “at this particular point in time.” Squeri’s response came to a question from David Togut, senior managing director of Evercore ISI, who noted that other card companies are seeing strength in debit as the economy struggles during the coronavirus pandemic. With consumers wary of taking on debt during a recession, credit cards could see a decline in spending. In June, AmEx announced it would be launching in China under a joint venture between the card company and the Chinese fintech Lianlian DigiTech. The joint venture, Express Technology Services Company, aims to start processing transactions later this year. According to Squeri, China will be a debit and credit market for AmEx. Squeri also pointed out that, although the company is not moving into the debit card market in the U.S., the company launched an integration with the peer-to-peer payments network Venmo last year that allows customers to split purchases on their AmEx statement with Venmo users. “We felt that while we didn’t need our own debit product, the ability to have the transfer of — from Venmo to American Express and vice versa is — was good,” he said. See also: Amex taps Nova Credit’s tech to underwrite immigrants to the US Earlier this month, the company launched American Express One AP , an accounts payable solution for commercial card clients that was built after AmEx’s acquisition of the digital payments platform Acompay last year . According to Squeri, the business-to-business market will continue to be a priority for AmEx. “We’re seeing a significant increase in demand for our automated B2B payment solutions as more customers look for efficient, secure ways to pay suppliers and manage their businesses remotely in this environment,” he said. As for whether AmEx will truly be able to launch a robust debit card offering in China, Kapronasia, a research firm that focuses on the Asian financial services industry, said the challenge will be unseating well-established incumbents. “The challenge for any foreign card company in China is to find a compelling value proposition for consumers who are accustomed to UnionPay for physical card transactions and Alipay or WeChat for mobile payments,” the firm wrote in a post . Bank Innovation Build , which takes place Sept. 9-10 as a virtual experience, is a must-attend industry event for professionals overseeing financial technologies, product experiences and services. Register here .

AmEx: No debit card plans despite Venmo integration

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