How Do They Make Money?

From Item 1 Business:

American Express is a globally integrated payments company, providing customers with access to products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build business success. We are a leader in providing credit and charge cards to consumers, small businesses, mid-size companies and large corporations around the world

They have four reportable segments:

• U.S. Consumer Services (USCS)
• Commercial Services (CS)
• International Card Services (ICS)
• Global Merchant and Network Services (GMNS)

The first 3 (USCS, CS, ICS) are all card services but to different segments... USCS is to US Consumers, CS is for US businesses, and ICS is for members outside the US.

GMNS is the service that acquires merchants and provides multi-channel marketing programs. They are responsible for managing the relationship with merchants, which is probably my biggest beef with AMEX as a cardholder, their card is not accepted everywhere-- and almost nowhere internationally!