American Express' corporate card business continued to trend upward during the first quarter, as global card-billed business for Amex's Global Commercial Services division tallied $123.4 billion during the quarter, a 7 percent jump from the first quarter of 2018 on a foreign currency-adjusted basis, according to the company's latest earnings report. Meanwhile, the number of Amex corporate cards in force increased year over year from 14.1 million to 14.6 million.
GCS revenue net of interest expense ticked up 6 percent to $3.2 billion, driven largely by average cardmember spending, which came in at $8,463, 3 percent higher than last year's first quarter. Net income for GCS rose 7 percent to $586 million. A 7 percent leap in expenses to $2.2 billion mitigated the increase in revenue, Amex said.
GCS's share of overall Amex billings edged up to 42 percent, after holding at 41 percent during the previous two quarters. The international small and midsize enterprise market continued its recent run of strong growth; corporate card billings for that segment, comprised of companies with less than $300 million in annual revenue, surged 19 percent year over year, adjusted for foreign currency.
"International SME remains our highest-growth customer segment," Amex CFO Jeff Campbell noted during the company's earnings call. He saw no sign of that trend abating, highlighting the "long-term growth opportunity in this segment, given the low penetration we have in the top countries where we offer international small business products."
Amex's U.S. SME billings for the first quarter increased 8 percent year over year, while large and global corporate billings rose 5 percent.
Airline-related spending across all Amex product types ticked up 1 percent year over year, adjusted for foreign currency, while U.S. T&E-related billings increased 5 percent.
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