Banks and payment companies have been fighting to capture small business banking customers, and for American Express' Group President of Global Merchant Network Services
Anna Marrs, much of last year was spent working on that goal.
2024 was a year marked with economic and political uncertainty, and that provided Amex an opportunity to more deeply engage with its small business clients, said Marrs, who until earlier this year was Group President of Amex's Global Commercial Services and Credit & Fraud Risk (Marrs was ranked on her 2024 title for this year's list.) Her division is the company's second largest business by revenue and card member spending, and accounted for approximately 25% of American Express's total revenue in 2023.
"Anytime a company is there for you through a difficult time, it's a source of tremendous loyalty over the long term," Marrs told American Banker. "I always tell my team, challenges that a customer goes through are the right times to build deeper relationships. If we're going through macroeconomic uncertainty, that's true then as well."
That strategy has been working, she said. Amex holds north of 40% share of small business card billings.
"We as a company have had to navigate through 2024 and 2025 is just the overall outlook for the economy. All businesses have to adapt to this." Marrs said. "How we support our card members and drive growth through a cycle, that's been a major area of focus for us."
Marrs last year also helped sheppard through Amex's acquisition of Center, an expense management platform, to augment a series of small business products in credit and shipping.
"Amex doesn't acquire companies that frequently, and so we're very thoughtful about the companies that we add to our portfolio," Marrs said. "What we're looking for with Center was a very modern fintech with a technology architecture that could easily integrate with our medium sized small business card members, helping them to control their expenses, helping them to use cards in their business with confidence."
That work has paid dividends for Marrs, whose remit was expanded in February when she was named Group President of Global Merchant Network Services. In addition to continuing to be the most senior female leader with P&L responsibilities at American Express, Marrs now leads a global team responsible for managing relationships with more than 108 million businesses, third-party payment providers, bank and fintech partners, and the company's global payments network.
This year, Marrs has been focused on driving payment acceptance points, such as in transit systems. Amex earlier this year went live with two of the largest transit systems in the world: Beijing, and Shanghai. Marrs' team will also be working to increase the company's base of younger card members, Amex's Platinum Card refresh and continuing to expand small business technology and along with Amex's market share in the segment.
"Service is really core to what we do. And I think it's right to think about how the company can be there for our customers through the cycle," Marrs said. "An example of that, as we've navigated the tariff environment, we use new data sources to understand where a customer might have an exposure to a market where you're going to see a higher level of tariffs, and we have, in many markets, practically reached out to those businesses to understand how we can help."
