How Amex is using Kabbage to help SMBs cash flow, and why regulators are cracking down on bank-fintech partnerships – Tearsheet

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How Amex is using Kabbage as the ‘heartbeat’ of its strategy to help small and medium businesses with cash flow

In this episode of the Tearsheet Podcast, CMO Kabbage of American Express, Brett Sussman joins host Zack Miller, Tearsheet’s editor-in-chief.

American Express’ Kabbage is growing and developing. As a stand-alone company, we have known Kabbage as a small business lender, and following the acquisition, as part of Amex’s strategy, it is expanding its lending capabilities to become a cash flow home base for the firm’s SME customers.

Sussman talks about the opportunities and challenges facing SMEs and how Amex and Kabbage are working to support them. He discusses the evolution of Kabbage as a product, and Amex in general as it expands to meet the needs of small businesses. He also talks about Amex’s two-pronged strategy for growing cabbage.

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Why are regulators cracking down on bank-fintech partnerships?

Across the board, federal banking agencies appear to be preparing to crack down on market activity by enforcing financial industry regulations. Recently, the CEOs of the largest banks in America were summoned to Capitol Hill and probed on all manner of issues, from the war in Ukraine to their role in slavery.

Maybe it’s a political tactic to seem busy because of the upcoming election. Or a more cosmic shift is at play, with the new moon in Libra suggesting that new legal developments are in order. Not fans of speculation, Tearsheet reached out to Brian Graham, partner at Klaros Group, to help us understand what’s going on.

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