Tapping an American Express card is, more and more, a young person’s game.
For the first time, millennials and Gen Zers made up the biggest slice of US consumer spending among all Amex consumer cardholders last quarter, CFO Christophe Le Caillec said on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call. They’re also the fastest-growing cohort, he said, as Amex works to target younger consumers. To date, the average new consumer customer for the Platinum and Gold cards is 33 and 29, respectively. (The Platinum card costs $895 a year, compared to the Gold card’s annual fee of $325.)
Amex’s customers were spending to fund their lifestyles, especially when it came to eating out and traveling. In the fourth quarter, cardholders’ retail spending rose 10%, compared with 15% at luxury retailers, Le Caillec said. Amex refreshed its Platinum card in September, and the CFO said that the number of new cardholders was up “significantly.”
Restaurants saw a boom, especially those that partner with Resy, the reservation platform owned by Amex. Spending at restaurants was up 9% for the quarter, compared with up 20% at Resy venues, CEO Stephen Squeri said later in the call. Under the newest Platinum perks, cardholders can receive up to $400 in annual credit at Resy restaurants and attend “Platinum Nights” at select spots in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami.
“That synergy has really worked out very, very well for us,” Squeri said of the partnership with Resy.
He added that the Platinum refresh has made it easier for cardholders to enroll in benefits, and the card provider saw a 30% surge in travel bookings in the last three months of 2025.
“That is a direct result of that Platinum launch and the engagement of our cardholders,” he said.
When it comes to non-premium spenders, Squeri predicted that President Donald Trump’s proposed one-year cap on credit cards would be harmful.
“Affordability is really important. I don’t think a 10% credit card cap is the answer to that. I think it would reduce the number of cards ultimately in the marketplace,” Squeri said, largely echoing the opinions of other financial leaders.
The cap, if enacted, could reduce the number of cards in the market and negatively impact small businesses: “It just has this sort of effect of a downward spiral.”
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