American Express brings its mobile wallet to Canada

By David Heun for PaymentsSource

American Express has added a new mobile payment service to the growing list of “Pays” available to consumers in Canada.

Nearly a year after being the first card brand to support Apple Pay in Canada, American Express has launched its own Amex Pay wallet in the country. American Express cardholders in Canada can now use Amex Pay on their Android devices to make Near Field Communication-based contactless payments at the point of sale.

The service is available for customers with consumer, small business or corporate cards were issued in Canada. It operates on devices using the latest version of the Amex CA App.

“The launch of Amex Pay allows cardmembers in Canada to shop with ‘spend wherever’ American Express contactless payments,” Suat Alaybeyoglu, Amex Canada spokesman, said in a Dec. 1 press release.

Amex Pay also allows redemption of Membership Rewards points for purchases on Amazon.ca, with a 1,000-point minimum per redemption. Prepaid cards, such as an American Express Gift Card, currently will not operate through Amex Pay.

Through use of a Device Card Number representing any new Amex cards added to app, users can continue to use Amex Pay even if their plastic card is lost or stolen, while waiting for a new card to arrive. The Device Card Number is also used to pair up with a new DCN if a user gets a new phone and has to remove or deactivate cards from the old phone.

Consumers in Canada now have Amex Pay, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Android Pay as major mobile payment options.

First appeared at PaymentsSource