Amex to begin a gradual contactless rollout in July

American Express is following other major issuers in committing to convert its credit card portfolio to contactless as customers' cards expire.

Beginning in July, the New York-based issuer will begin issuing all new and replacement cards in the contactless format, and it will also do so upon request by customers, Amex said in a Friday press release.

Chase last year committed to contactless, vowing to begin issuing new and replacement credit cards as contactless starting this summer, with debit cards to follow later. Wells Fargo & Co. will also take a similar approach.

Amex was among a handful of major U.S. card issuers that launched contactless cards for a short time about a decade ago before the merchant base was ready.

This time around Amex hopes to capture the growing momentum around merchants enabling contactless, and major transit agencies including New York's MTA adopting open-loop contactless payments.

“We’re committed to making contactless accessible for our card members in the U.S. and are working with merchants across the country to make this a reality,” said Jaromir Divilek, executive vice president at Amex, in the release.