Hints and tips:
...A cardholder’s haven in midtown Manhattan Those in possession of American Express’s invitation-only Centurion card know the privileges of membership are many, from hotel room upgrades to the oodles of points...
...It’s the title of a quite brilliant book on east-central Europe since the second world war by the American scholar Joseph Rothschild....
...Lex opines on American Express’ loan-loss reserves, and argues that investors should not take fright....
...Last week I spoke with former American Express executive Andrew Jamison about his company Extend, which looks to help traditional banks offer modern payment technology to commercial clients through APIs....
...I see a market dominated by American Express and the legacy banks. Most companies are yet to implement the next generation systems which we provide. There’s still so much business to capture....
...Traditional payments companies like Mastercard, and American Express will probably play a central role as the gateways to commerce on platforms like Meta and Roblox, according to Ghose....
...Jordan, who took over as chief executive in 2019, has previously worked at American Express and RailsBank. What inspired the formation of Bink and what problems does it solve?...
...Travel spending by big US companies was “well over 50 per cent” of pre-pandemic levels in March, the chief financial officer of American Express told the FT last week....
...Prometheon, which owed about £231m to its lenders including Indian banks, had only £1,900 in its bank account....
...The other branchless banks that have reached significant scale also have strength in asset-gathering: they are the card companies like Discover, American Express and Synchronicity Financial....
...Seasonal appeal Investors v poachers Wildlife conservation finance, for decades the preserve of wealthy donors and governments, is now attracting institutional investors....
...(FT) Copyright special: France v Google France is looking to win the war of words with Google....
...Metro Bank goes onto the “buy” list at Investec. Analyst Ian Gordon reckons it’s now cheap enough to offset the fact that it’s Metro Bank....
...Joschka Fischer, former German foreign minister, warns a “disastrous” Mr Trump is destroying the American world order....
...Why the US is different Hannah Kuchler writes on why American fears about big government outweigh concerns about their online privacy....
...And have a good weekend (particularly American readers who get a long weekend for Labor Day)....
...Donald v Silvio Mr Babis, a billionaire businessman, is currently under investigation for alleged misuse of EU funds....
...(FT) Banking with Amazon Amazon is discussing a potential partnership to offer its customers bank accounts through JPMorgan Chase, in a deal that could unite America’s largest bank with its biggest ecommerce...
...In 1999, American Express launched a near-mythical object — a black card. Known as Centurion, this was not a credit card you could choose to apply for. Oh no. Rather, the card chose you....
...“I still feel good about owning American Express,” Mr Buffett said at the Berkshire meeting in April. “Their position . . . will continue to be under attack....
...Some of his targets are too easy, as when Ronald McDonald or Mickey Mouse are made to personify American hegemony....
...A protest called “V-day” — V being for vaffanculo, the Italian equivalent of “fuck off” — drew 80,000 people to one event....
...He added that it would also appeal to people who might have “invitation only” cards that are taken off them on ill-defined eligibility criteria, such as American Express’s Centurion card....
...commissioned from the artist Joseph Gandy a bird’s-eye painting which depicted the bank as a future wreck....
...Officials found that the bank’s Centurion subsidiary had an ineffective compliance regime and inadequate staffing....
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