American Express

Following a series of high-profile merchant defections, the Plenti multi-merchant rewards program will end on July 10. The program's treatment of merchant exclusivity may have proven too limiting.

The breach at Expedia's Orbitz not only jeopardized nearly 880,000 payment cards — it cast a spotlight on the weaknesses all companies expose themselves to when they partner with another brand.

American Express Ventures has become an investor in the startup EverCompliant, which helps financial institutions root out e-commerce websites backed by terrorists and drug cartels that are laundering money through payments-processing networks.

To detect and combat transaction laundering — the practice of hiding illegal activity behind a business that appears legitimate — American Express' investment group took a minority equity stake in EverCompliant.

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein is reportedly considering leaving by the end of this year; American Express plans to reduce its merchant fees to stay competitive.

A motivating speech from a female executive at the Ogilvy ad agency 15 years ago helped steer Denise Pickett to new heights at American Express. As did having a family willing to move to the U.S. from Canada.

Long after e-commerce removed the biggest obstacles preventing U.S. merchants from selling internationally, there are still untapped pockets of opportunity.

American Express claims its rules allow it to better compete against other major card networks. The complaining states view anti-card steering rules as a way to block other networks from offering lower fees, thus resulting in retailers raising prices for consumers.

The card activation process is relatively low-tech, but since its introduction nearly three decades ago it has been hugely effective in preventing credit cards from falling into the wrong hands. Among its pioneers was Ash Gupta, American Express’ president of global credit risk, who is retiring next month.

The announcement comes only a month after five other retailers dropped from Plenti. AT&T had dropped out of the program three months earlier as the first retailer to leave.