At American Express, innovation is not a one-time milestone, it’s a continuous journey. Over the past decade, we’ve reimagined the way we deliver new Card products and benefits to our Card Members by thoughtfully investing in technology platform modernization, data, and digital experiences. The result? In 2013, we were refreshing just one Card a year. Today, we average more than 30 Card refreshes annually. Our most recent Platinum Card refresh, the most ambitious yet across both consumer and business Cards, showcases this transformation in action.

By combining platform modernization, API-led architecture, and data-driven insights, we have built an innovation ecosystem where Card product updates happen with speed, precision, and scale.

Continuous Modernization Fuels Innovation

Our technology transformation has been deliberate and multi-year, dedicating around 25% of our technology investment budget each year to continuous modernization. These investments enhance our modular architecture, reusable frameworks, and advanced big data platforms that drive speed and efficiency.

Gen AI-powered rule generation and UI-driven configuration are two key foundational investments. Our technical architecture places a rules engine above the base code. That means Gen AI generates core decision rules for benefits, offers, and rewards, enabling faster configuration and deployment. Parameters and configurations are managed through intuitive UI layers, while Gen AI supports both internal teams and marketing in real-time setup, speeding up end-to-end delivery and reducing time and complexity for our engineers.

Previously, setting up new benefits could take up to five months. Now, with UI-driven configuration and Gen AI–powered business rule creation, setup timelines have been reduced to as little as 6–8 weeks or less than half the time it took a decade ago.

APIs: The Building Blocks of Exceptional Experiences

At the center of our digital ecosystem is a robust API-led architecture. Our core products and benefits are powered by APIs designed for transparency and scalability.

For customers, this means seamless experiences: real-time benefit tracking, self-service enrollment, and personalized recommendations. For engineers, APIs act as modular building blocks, ready-to-use components that can be combined to create new digital experiences without starting from scratch.

This flexible foundation also made it possible to integrate acquisitions like Tock and Rooam into the latest Platinum refresh, bringing lifestyle, dining, and payment experiences together in one cohesive ecosystem. Now, our mobile app serves as a hub where customers can easily manage their finances and dive into curated lifestyle offerings, like discovering their next Resy reservation or a new travel inspiration, all in one place.

And we’re already building for what’s next: many of our APIs are AI-ready, paving the way for intelligent, context-aware features in travel, dining, and beyond. Our API strategy ensures that as technology evolves, our platforms evolve along with it.

Data-Driven Insights at Scale

American Express’ closed-loop model provides a high-definition view of our customers, allowing us to deliver benefits that feel curated. Our new cloud-based data platform, unlocks scalable computing power, real-time analytics, and robust governance to ensure we can innovate responsibly while meeting regulatory requirements.

Before any card refresh, we spend up to 24 months analyzing how Card Members engage with their Cards, using focus groups, surveys, call listening, and transaction insights. This level of data-driven rigor ensures new benefits are not only timely but also deeply relevant.

For the Platinum Card refresh, this enabled us to offer new benefits and rewards that strongly resonate with our customers. For example, 96% of Platinum Card Members spend on dining so offering stronger dining value to Card Members was a key priority in this update.

Looking Ahead: Digital at the Core

The Platinum Card refresh is another exciting milestone in our digital journey, but there is more to come. We’re making strategic investments in our mobile app, website, and tech platforms to ensure that future product updates happen quickly and result in seamless digital experiences for our customers.

From more intuitive personalization to new integrations across travel, dining, and lifestyle services, digital will be at the heart of every product refresh. Our goal is simple: leverage technology to deliver value at the speed of our customers’ expectations.