Lew later birthplace10/27/2023 “It’s a partnership that our customers really value,” Lewis says. ![]() She says Amex has no plans to row back on partnerships with the likes of British Airways any time soon, despite growing public concern over the impact of air travel’s carbon emissions on the climate crisis. ![]() The UK boss is not planning to get in the way of that momentum. “We’re seeing a strong desire to continue to get out there and enjoy life,” Lewis says. Thanks to Covid payment holidays, as well as the relative wealth of its customers, Amex was able to release $674m of the funds it had put aside at the end of 2020.Īnd earlier this year, the company – which does not break out its UK results – said customers had spent a record $426bn in the second quarter, helping push profits up 11% to $2.2bn, despite the cost of living crisis. Ultimately, pandemic-era default fears proved to be overblown. Lewis refuses to discuss fees, but suggests the fact that Amex is now accepted at the likes of Homebase, Aldi and Lidl proves its cards are increasingly used by ordinary, if slightly more affluent, customers. That campaign, Lewis says, also helped challenge what she says is the “outdated” claim that Amex is rarely accepted on the high street – because of the supposedly high transaction fees for retailers compared with those levied by rivals such as Visa and Mastercard. That included online workshops – ranging from in-depth courses on classic cars to home cooking – digital BFI screenings, and doubling down on its “shop small” campaign, which encouraged customers to use their Amex cards at local stores. So we made a very deliberate decision at that point to invest in non-travel benefits,” she says. With housebound customers unable to use its inhouse travel agency, and no longer attracted to its famous travel reward perks, the company known for prestigious partnerships with airlines including British Airways, Emirates and Etihad was forced to change direction. The 44-year-old, who was appointed head of Amex UK in 2022 after 14 years at the company, says the pandemic sparked some soul-searching for the business, which has relied heavily on travel ever since it was founded as an express shipping company in 1850. ![]() “It was probably one of the most challenging periods for anyone in the past 20 years,” says Hannah Lewis.
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