American Express prepares to launch debit cards in China

American Express has announced plans to issue debit cards in China. According to PaymentsJournal, American Express was granted the opportunity to process payment transactions in China approximately 8 months ago and started to build a platform and expand its network of merchants in the country, adding 14 million merchants in the process.

The initiative comes as China has a relatively high level of checking account penetration among its population, around 80%, and debit cards are vastly preferred to credit cards. Besides, American Express’ payment processing operations in China are giving it a foundation upon which to expand its debit offering to new countries.

Overall, American Express changed its financial reporting this quarter to more clearly show how China joins its revenue mix. Therevore, for the first quarter of 2021, Amex had USD 44 billion in process volumes and USD 225 billion in billed business, according to reports.