American Express: Global's card scheme
American Express is a card scheme used in Global. Global card network with higher-spend cardholder base. Available to consumers in Global. This page covers how the flow works, where consumers use it, and which merchants should accept it.
How the American Express flow works
American Express is a card scheme available in Global. Full public profile pending — contact us to prioritise this method.
Typical use cases
- Merchants selling to consumers in Global.
Consumer reach
Available to consumers in Global.
Who should accept American Express
- Merchants targeting the Global market.
Operational detail
The operational half of every method profile — settlement, refunds, disputes, PSP coverage and licensing — is reserved for Payment Methods List founding partners. It's the part vendor sites won't publish and the part that actually decides whether American Express works for your stack.
Settlement time
How fast American Express funds land after the payer confirms, behaviour outside scheme hours, whether the rail settles gross or net, and the realistic T+n to sweep to USD/EUR — plus the PSPs where the advertised timeline actually holds in Global.
Book a founding-partner call →Refund mechanics
How American Express refunds are executed end-to-end when the rail has no scheme-level reversal — payer-initiated pulls, credit transfers, or PSP-fronted refunds — plus partial-refund support, time limits, and the API surface each PSP exposes.
Book a founding-partner call →Chargeback exposure
Whether American Express has any dispute construct at all, which recall/return/indemnity vectors actually exist on the rail, how consumer-protection rules in Global route claims back to merchants, and observed loss rates versus cards.
Book a founding-partner call →PSP coverage matrix
Which acquirers and aggregators run direct rail connections to American Express vs. reselling a partner, coverage depth and reliability, effective pricing bands, and who to pick when Global volume is your primary use case.
Book a founding-partner call →KYC & licensing notes
Requirements to accept American Express — local entity vs. cross-border MoR, licensing regime governing the rail in Global, KYC obligations at onboarding and per-transaction, and FX/reporting rules for foreign merchants.
Book a founding-partner call →Frequently asked questions about American Express
What is American Express?
American Express is a card scheme used in Global, in the Global region. Global card network with higher-spend cardholder base. The profile on this page documents the checkout flow step by step, the use cases it fits, the consumer base that can pay with it, and the merchant types that should carry it. Last reviewed July 31, 2026 by Ale Aznar.
Which countries does American Express cover?
American Express is recorded against Global in the Global region, which is the market where its consumer reach is meaningful for merchants. Cross-border acceptance depends on the acquirer or merchant-of-record you use rather than on the rail itself. The Global country hub lists every other alternative and local method tracked for that market alongside American Express.
What does American Express cost a merchant?
Pricing for American Express is not a single published number: it moves with monthly volume, vertical, entity type and whether you connect through a direct acquirer or an aggregator. Effective pricing bands per provider, plus the fixed-fee and FX components that sit alongside the headline rate, are part of the founding-partner dataset rather than this public Global profile.
Which PSPs and aggregators give access to American Express?
Access to American Express runs either through an acquirer with a direct rail connection or through an aggregator reselling a partner's connection, and the two differ in reliability and reporting. The list of providers processing American Express in Global today, whether each is direct or resold, and where onboarding is currently restricted sits in the founding-partner PSP coverage matrix.
Is American Express available for Merchants selling to consumers in Global?
Yes. That is one of the documented use cases for American Express in Global: Merchants selling to consumers in Global. Vertical eligibility is ultimately set by the provider you onboard with, not by the rail, so regulated categories such as gambling, crypto and adult content are commonly excluded even where the card scheme itself supports the flow. Confirm the restriction list with your acquirer.
What are the settlement time and currency for American Express?
American Express is a card scheme, so the payer-side confirmation and the merchant-side payout are separate events with different timing. Settlement windows, cut-off behaviour outside scheme hours, the payout currency, and the realistic timeline to sweep funds out of Global are documented in the operational section of this profile, available to Payment Methods List founding partners.