AmEx Teams With Advanta in Card Program
American Express Co. agreed Thursday to let the nation’s eighth-largest Visa and MasterCard issuer market a credit card linked to American Express’ most popular customer incentive program.
The agreement, which American Express labeled part of a “broader alliance” between it and Advanta Corp., falls short of AmEx’s goal of getting banks to issue cards bearing its logo alongside Visa’s and MasterCard’s.
Visa International Inc. and Mastercard International Inc. have blocked that initiative in the U.S. by adopting bylaws barring their member banks from issuing competing forms of plastic.
Nevertheless, the Advanta link is a step toward the kind of alliances American Express seeks.
MasterCard declined to comment on the agreement. Visa didn’t immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
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