Amex To Merge Prepaid Cards With Digital Wallet, Add Rewards

The article  contains text correcting an error in the original version.

NEW YORK–American Express Co. will release an updated version of its digital wallet Serve that will include all of its prepaid products as well as incorporate deals and loyalty rewards.

Amex launched its Serve stored-value account last year as a way to attract customers that normally would not qualify for its credit cards (see story).  Serve is designed to function as a digital wallet, though it can be used at the point of sale with an attached debit card.

Separately, Amex launched a prepaid card that has almost no fees (see story).

When Serve is updated, all Amex prepaid card users will use the Serve platform, Dan Schulman, Amex's group president of enterprise growth, said here Feb. 16 at the KBW cards, payments and financial technology symposium.

"We will turn our platform from a digital-payments platform to a digital payments and commerce platform," he said.

Serve soon will allow users to pay online using their mobile-phone number and a PIN. EBay Inc.'s PayPal is allowing payments in a similar way, only at the point of sale, in a test in some Home Depot stores (see story).

In an interview, Schulman said that there will be multiple alternative ways for users to authenticate their transactions the point of sale. "We have a plan in place," he says.

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