American Express

www.americanexpress.com/banking

Membership Banking from American Centurion Bank.

American Express (New York; 22 million U.S. customers) made its official entrée into Internet banking with a thorough effort called Membership Banking. A prominent feature of the home page is a comparison of American Express deposit rates vs. national averages. If you are selling deposits on the Net, it makes sense to put the rate comparison on the front page, or at minimum, one click away.

According to news reports, AmEx has aggressive account goals: 10,000 accounts by the end of August, 200,000 accounts within one year, and one million accounts in five years. With 22 million, largely upscale U.S. charge card customers, they are in an enviable position. We’ll look at the site in more depth in a future issue.

The banking platform comes from Fiserv, a big-name win for the bank processor. The deal is worth at least $5 million in the first year, and as much as $50 million per year if AmEx hits the one million target.

Contact: David Bauman is SVP, (212) 640-2000.