American Express Unveils AI-Powered Spend Controls for Corporate Cards

American Express introduced the latest iteration of its corporate card offering Wednesday, combining cashback cards with integrated expense software and a mobile application designed to give finance teams more oversight of company spending.

The updated Amex Corporate platform merges the Corporate Cashback Card programme with expense management tools and a new mobile app that generates expense reports automatically as transactions occur, the issuer announced.

Finance teams can now impose detailed restrictions on card usage, controlling where employees spend, transaction types allowed, and when purchases can occur.

The company plans to integrate AI-powered assistants into the expense management platform before year-end, adding capabilities that automate interactions between finance departments and cardholders.

Two AI agents will launch initially: one that contacts employees to request missing expense details, and another that answers finance teams' questions about spending patterns across the organisation.

The expense software consolidates card administration, transaction records, policy controls, and approval workflows in a single interface.

Nearly 9 out of 10 businesses we surveyed told us their future growth depends on getting a better understanding of employee spending, said Raymond Joabar, group president of global commercial services at American Express.

Research from PYMNTS Intelligence shows spending visibility matters when small and mid-sized firms select corporate cards — 15.7% cited better analytics as a deciding factor, while 13.8% prioritised expense management capabilities.

The card network reported 5% growth in commercial billed business during the second quarter, with small businesses and large corporations expanding at identical rates.

American Express had begun testing the new expense platform with middle-market clients earlier this year, addressing competitive pressure from FinTech providers targeting the same customer segment.

The launch comes two weeks after the company unveiled a high-yield Business Savings account, part of a broader push to bundle financial products with its commercial card memberships.

Customers can now apply for business savings and checking accounts through a unified application and manage both banking products and cards within the Amex App or online dashboard.