American Express Adds Apple Pay Support For US Corporate Cards

Customers can now pay for purchases on their corporate American Express cards using Apple Pay. It’s the first company to rollout support for its portfolio of corporate charge and credit cards on Apple’s mobile payment system, according to American Express.

The addition of corporate cards into the mix of Amex cards that support Apple Pay enables employees to pay for their expenses and work-related purchases with their iPhone 6 or Apple Watch. This works for both purchases at stores that support contactless payments and apps with Apple Pay support. But for now, corporate Amex cards support is limited to those issued in the United States.

American Express’ move is its latest to expand support for the mobile payment system to more of its customers. The company was also one of the first to support Apple Pay in 2014 with its consumer and OPEN small business credit cards.

Since Apple Pay’s launch last year, over 400 banks in the United States have added support for the service. Last month, Apple also expanded Apple Pay to the U.K. -- the first country outside of the United States to accept it. Apple hasn’t officially said where Apple Pay will go to next. But several reports have pointed to Canada and China as likely candidates.

Though banks have flocked to Apple Pay, retailers haven’t been as eager to jump on board. Nearly two-thirds of top 100 U.S. retailers said they had no plans to support Apple Pay in 2015, according to a Reuters poll from June. Though Apple claimed 50 top U.S. merchants were already using it.

Apple will update Apple Pay with iOS 9 in the fall by adding support for loyalty, rewards and store-branded payment cards.