(5 July 2017 – Australia) According to East & Partners 2017 Australian Merchant Payments Report, 38 percent of all Australian businesses accept American Express (AMEX) issued credit cards. However, the credit card giant is seeking to change that with lower fees and a new partnership.
CBA has added the credit card issuer to its “Simple Merchant Plans”, which means that businesses don’t need to negotiate with both the bank and card provider pricing for merchant point of sale (POS) transactions.
Daniel Parsons, American Express vice president merchant services said: “Our partnership with Commonwealth Bank will make it easier for Australian small businesses to accept American Express, attracting these high-value customers.”
Amex is also reducing the fees it charges small businesses by up to one percentage point under the plan.
The move is aimed at getting more small businesses to accept Amex payments, which typically cost business owners more, leading many shops to impose higher credit card surcharges on Amex payments or to not accept them at all.
Speaking to Fairfax, Katrina Konstas, who manages the small merchants' business at American Express, said the firm was seeking to double merchant acceptance over the next two years.
“We want to make it a lot easier for merchants to accept American Express,” Kontas said.
“For some businesses, it will be a reduction of a whole percentage point.”
CBA's executive general manager of business banking, Claire Roberts, told Fairfax that: “Consumers want flexibility in the way they pay for goods and services and by adding American Express we are now providing small businesses with card payment options at the same rate,” she said in a statement.