American Express Company AXP is expanding its commercial payments business through two new initiatives. The company partnered with Bottomline to link its Buyer Initiated Payments (BIP) platform to the Paymode network through BIP Connect, making virtual card and Premium ACH payments easier for businesses. At the same time, it introduced new intelligent tools that automate invoice matching and status reporting.
These initiatives address a key challenge in corporate finance: manual payment processes. Fresh Trendex survey data shows that companies lose about 30 business days a year just processing invoice payments, and 90% hit payment errors along the way. By letting buyers initiate payments through existing commercial accounts while vendors receive secure, authenticated funds on Paymode, the platform cuts down reconciliation time and lowers fraud risk.
This fits directly into a broader strategy to capture commercial spending still tied to paper checks and legacy ACH bank transfers. Rather than relying solely on its consumer card business, AXP is expanding its presence across accounts payable workflows to drive recurring, high-volume business-to-business (B2B) transactions.
While these tools are unlikely to meaningfully boost next quarter's earnings, they can help retain corporate clients. By embedding its network directly into accounts payable software, AXP builds stickier customer relationships and positions itself to capture more payment volume over time.
How Are Competitors Faring?
American Express faces intense competition in the payments space from Mastercard Incorporated MA and Visa Inc. V, both of which are investing heavily in commercial payments, virtual cards and AI-powered payment solutions.
Mastercard continues to expand its B2B offerings through virtual cards, embedded finance and AI-powered payment solutions, including Agent Pay. Mastercard is positioning itself to capture a larger share of digital business payments as enterprises modernize their payment operations.
Visa is also investing heavily in commercial payments through virtual cards and B2B payment solutions. As businesses shift to digital payment workflows, Visa is planning to increase its exposure to growing commercial payment volumes.
AXP’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates
Shares of AXP have risen 13.7% over the past year against the industry’s 28.2% decline.
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From a valuation standpoint, AXP trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 18.36X, up from the industry average of 13.23X. AXP carries a Value Score of C.
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The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AXP’s 2026 earnings is pegged at $17.67 per share, implying a 14.9% jump from the year-ago period’s level.
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AXP currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).