American Express Co. signed an agreement with Banco Bital to offer American Express corporate cards in Mexico.
American Express has been offering corporate cards in Mexico since 1995, but this agreement will likely boost its market share significantly. Banco Bital plans to market the card through its 1,200 branches to the 500,000 corporations it serves. Only 10% of those companies already have an American Express corporate card.
"American Express is an established leader in Mexico" for corporate cards associated with large companies, said Edmundo Perez de Cobos, president and general manager of American Express, Mexico. The Banco Bital card, however, will target small to midsize companies.
"The main object of this card is to help companies better control their travel and entertainment expenses, which is probably the second most important expense in a company," Mr. de Cobos said.
American Express will provide the operation systems support and customer service.
The Banco Bital card is American Express' fifth corporate card alliance. It also has cobranded business cards with Natwest Bank, Credit Lyonnais in France, and Qantas in Australia.
Separately, the Federal Competition Commission in Mexico closed its proceedings regarding a complaint American Express had filed with it a year ago over whether Visa member banks may offer American Express products.
The two card companies reached an agreement under which Visa said it had no policy to prevent its members from working with American Express in Latin America and, therefore, it was unnecessary for the competition commission to keep the case open.
About a year ago American Express filed complaints with a number of governments in Latin America, claiming that Visa either intimidated members from working with American Express or was planning to adopt a policy in the region that would formally prohibit them to do so.
