Amex agrees to buy more tools to aid AI plans

• key insights: Amex has agreed to acquire Hypercard, a provider of AI for expense management.
• what is the problem: The partnership will help AmEx build its agent commerce strategy as it competes with other large payment companies and fintechs.
• Future outlook: Amex will release its earnings results on April 23, and analysts are predicting strong results despite geopolitical concerns.

As payment companies expand artificial intelligence through the use of open protocol and acquisition, American Express is rapidly accumulating tools to provide agent commerce to businesses.

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A few days after launching the developer toolkit agent commerceAmerican Express has agreed to a deal to acquire Hypercard, a company that uses agent AI to manage expenses. Terms were not disclosed, but the deal is expected to close in the second quarter.

hyper card economically supported OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, former Mastercard CEO Gene Lockhard, Netflix co-founder Mark Randolph, One Medical founder Tom Lee, and others. Separately, OpenAI made its own acquisition this week, agreeing to acquire Personal Finance App Hiro.

Founded in 2022, Hypercard develops an AI agent that categorizes and files business expenses, checks expense reports for compliance and policy, and communicates with users about submissions and progress. Amex has partnered with Hypercard in the past to issue an AI-powered payment card for corporate customers in 2024.

AmEx did not comment by deadline. “Our customers want smarter, more efficient ways to manage their expenses so they can focus on what’s next for their business, and AI has the potential to transform how they do business,” said Raymond Joabah, group president of Global Commercial Services at American Express, in a press release.

AmEx’s HyperCard is AmEx’s second major AI-related move in recent days. AmEx’s developer toolkit includes agent registration and validation, account activation for consumers to register their cards for agent transactions, intent analysis, payment credential validation, and digital shopping cart context as an additional risk management measure. It is also compatible with Agent AI protocols. google and other technology companies. Agent commerce, broadly defined, refers to the use of non-human AI agents to perform tasks with little or no supervision.

“While agent commerce can speed up the discovery and transaction process, it also adds new complexities and risks, making identity, authorization, fraud risk, and liability management paramount to widespread adoption of agent commerce,” AmEx CEO Steve Squery said in a new paper. letter to investorspublished March 25th. “As AI agents become more pervasive, consumers will increasingly make payment choices based on who they trust and who can provide added value such as rewards, offers, experiences, and access. Businesses will expect to benefit from agent applications that enable seamless integration of supplier payments, invoicing, expense management, and cross-border flows.”

Other payment companies, such as PayPal, Block, Visa, and Mastercard, are also building products for agent commerce, combining internal use for employees with use for customers similar to AmEx, making it easier for customers to perform complex but everyday tasks. In most cases, the goal is to enable e-commerce shopping and payments, loyalty and reward usage through agent AI.

“Among the many battlegrounds for market dominance, agency commerce is seeing significant investment in payments as traditional financial card players vie for pole position,” Alenka Grealish, co-generative AI research leader at Celent, said in a research note.

Amex’s other business-related AI initiatives include a $300 ChatGPT business credit for U.S. Business Platinum and Gold cards and AI-powered insights for business customers that leverage data across cards, expenses, accounts payable and other information to measure spending. The new business tools follow previous Amex acquisitions of business technology companies center In 2025.

AmEx’s AI moves are primarily aimed at improving the company’s performance. business payment unitwill be released just before the next earnings report, scheduled for April 23, before the market opens.

Zacks Investment Research expects Amex to report quarterly earnings of $4.01 per share, up 10.2% from the year-ago period, and revenue of $18.62 billion, up 9.7% from the year-ago period.

“Given macro interest rates and higher payment rates, card issuers are generally steering loan growth slower,” Jefferies said in a research note on AmEx. “Amex’s super prime customer base has thus far appeared relatively unaffected by geopolitical uncertainty and inflation.”