American Express (NYSE: AXP) and Square (Block) (NYSE:SQ) announced “an expansion of their relationship and plans to launch a new credit card built specifically for Square sellers on the American Express network.”
The new card will be “the first credit card Square offers to its community of small business owners in the U.S.” It will “integrate directly with Square’s broader ecosystem of solutions, empowering sellers to organize their finances and manage their cash flow from the same platform they use to run their business.”
Luke Voiles, General Manager of Square Banking, said:
“Small businesses can struggle to find fair and simple solutions for their credit needs. Square has spent years building a successful lending program to eliminate this barrier for sellers, and we’re uniquely positioned to innovate even further in this space to expand access to new types of credit products. We wanted to create a product on a payment network that has a strong track record of supporting small merchants, making this card a natural progression of our existing relationship with American Express.”
William Stredwick, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Global Network Services North America at American Express, remarked:
“As champions of small businesses, our brands will offer a credit card product specifically designed for Square sellers, backed by the trust and security of the Amex network. Millions of small merchants already welcome American Express Cards through Square, and we look forward to expanding our relationship to further support the Square seller community with this innovative product.”
The Square Credit Card will be “available to eligible Square sellers in the U.S., enhancing Square’s robust suite of banking solutions.”
The card will be “powered by i2c Inc. and issued by Celtic Bank. Square will announce additional details about the card and benefits next year.”
As covered, American Express is “a globally integrated payments company, providing customers with access to products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build business success.”
As noted in the update, Square helps sellers “more easily run and grow their businesses with its integrated ecosystem of commerce solutions.”
Square offers purpose-built software “to run complex restaurant, retail, and professional services operations, versatile e-commerce tools, embedded financial services and banking products, buy now, pay later functionality through Afterpay, staff management and payroll capabilities, and much more – all of which work together to save sellers time and effort.”