Billings on American Express Corporate Cards Fall

Business at American Express Global Commercial Services, the travel giant’s corporate-card division, fell 3% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2015, as in every other quarter of 2015, the company reported in its earnings call.

“We’ve been very clear throughout [the year] that the segment I’ve been most disappointed in has been the corporate segment,” said Amex CEO Ken Chenault, blaming the fall on cutbacks in T&E spending among global corporations.

Chenault maintained that while he was disappointed with the results, he remains optimistic about corporate card growth in 2016.

American Express’s discount rate, the rate merchants pay to accept Amex cards, fell 2 basis points, in part thanks to the OptBlue small-business program. “We anticipate that our discount rate will decline by a greater amount during 2016 due to continued expansion of OptBlue, a greater impact of international regulatory pressures, and continued competitive pressures,” said CFO Jeff Campbell.

— Cheryl Rosen