At a time when many companies are cutting back, American Express is expanding its technology operation, while Visa, Mastercard and Discover are also hiring sizable tech teams.
The card network plans to hire about 1,000 people, mostly in data science, software and other technology roles, during the last three months of 2022, on top of the 3,600 technology workers it
"We want to lean into any downturn and emerge stronger," said Luke Gebb, executive vice president of Amex Digital Labs. "Our earnings are good so that allows us to be aggressive at this moment."
The new hires come as Amex is in the middle of its Enterprise Innovation Partners initiative. Amex is having its Enterprise Strategic Partnerships, Corporate Development (which includes its venture capital group) and Digital Labs business units work more closely together." Other networks including Visa and Mastercard are also hiring thousands of experts in areas such as data management, security and cryptocurrency.
By working across departments, Amex's Enterprise Innovation Partners hopes to improve the company's ability to anticipate consumer and merchant trends in dining and travel — two of Amex's largest business lines. The group is also examining how digital identity will be used in the future to expedite payment transactions, and tracking new developments in artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency.
Amex Ventures, which is part of the corporate development business unit, will invest in companies as part of the initiative and will also work with those companies on product development with existing Amex teams. Part of the goal is to spot opportunities for future merger and and acquisition deals, and add new product that can embed with existing acquired fintechs such as Kabbage, Accertify and Resy.
"It's become increasingly important to do this now," Gebb said. "Whether the future of the payment business involves a direction that Apple or Amazon or Google takes, or something else, the project will allow us to see how digital technology impacts evolution." Amex Digital Labs is a testing zone that creates about two dozen initiatives each year, and pilots those products in the market to get a barometer of consumer and business needs.
"You can study things all you want with surveys and other methods. But until you get customer feedback you can't know for sure," Gebb said. As part of the initiative's work, Amex recently began testing
"There's no shortage of interesting companies," said Lisa Marchese, head of corporate development for Amex. "Even in down times like in 2008 and 2009, there were a lot of new companies and ideas. Innovation doesn't stop in a downturn."
Other recent projects include
Another product,
"As people go about their day to day work, they can make connections with other departments," said Glenda McNeal, president of enterprise strategic partnerships at Amex. "Putting all of this at the enterprise level allows us to see across all of our businesses." Amex last week
During the earnings call,
Amex is expanding to find sources of revenue that aren't directly tied to payment processing, which has led all three firms to add services to provide security, or help customers use new technology such as blockchain or crypto. Stock market volatility would not impact that strategy at Amex, Gebb said.
"Our goals are set around the medium to long-term," Gebb said. "We're not changing what we do based on short-term swings in the market. Of course if these swings impact medium term trends we can adjust. But we're not thinking about any sort of downturn changes or strategy shifts right now.
Visa and Mastercard are also expanding revenue sources beyond payment processing. Visa did not return requests for comment on how the hiring slowdown in fintech hiring would impact hiring plans.
In an email, Mastercard's public relations team said the card network has 1,300 global openings, including 500 in the U.S. across software engineering, product and design, and technology infrastructure. Mastercard earlier this year reported it would
Mastercard is also expanding its
The slowdown in fintech hiring will result in code developers finding opportunities with established financial firms, which must keep developing to maintain their business position, according to Brian Riley, co-head of payments for Mercator Advisory Group. "For some it may seem that working in a traditional financial environment might lack the coolness of working for a startup. Still, when they end up at a top financial institution, IT staffers will likely enjoy the security and opportunity of a global institution."
