Spending on American Express corporate cards continued to slowly recover during the fourth quarter of 2020, the commercial payments giant revealed on Tuesday. Amex's Global Commercial Services (GCS) division reported $109.1 billion in Q4 billed business, up from $98.5 billion in the previous quarter and continuing a bounce-back from the Covid-19-ravaged Q2, which saw just $82.8 billion in GCS-billed business.?

Overall, Amex corporate card spending remained hobbled by the ongoing pandemic in Q4, coming in 18 per cent lower than the final quarter of 2019¡ªbut that figure too was an improvement over Q3's 23 per cent year-over-year drop-off. Average cardholder spending also showed sustained recovery from Q2 lows, increasing to $7,515 from $6,776 in the prior quarter. Yearly comparisons also showed positive signs; average spend in Q4 2020 was down just 16 per cent from a year earlier, compared to Q3's 21 per cent year-over-year decline. ?

T&E spending on all Amex cards¡ªwhile still down significantly from pre-pandemic levels¡ªalso showed steady improvement. Global T&E spend was down 65 per cent year-over-year during the most recent quarter, compared to 69 per cent in Q3 2020 and 87 per cent drop in Q2. Airline-related spending in Q4 continued to comprise 1 per cent of total spending volume on Amex cards¡ªholding steady the previous quarter's uptick from Q2, during which airline spending bottomed out at statistically 0 per cent of Amex's overall volume.?

Amex's GCS division reported fourth-quarter net income of $538 million, down only slightly from $550 million a year ago. Q4's lower cardholder spending was partially offset by a 13 per cent year-over-year decline in expenses largely due to lower incentive and customer engagement costs amid the decreased spending activity, the company said.

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