Charge!

摘要

This is the moment kenneth I. chenault, chief executive of American Express Co., has waited for his entire career. As a fresh recruit in charge of strategic planning more than two decades ago, he sought to move AmEx beyond its lucrative niche as an upscale charge card—an idea too radical for the company's old guard. Later, as head of consumer cards, he began a dogged campaign against industry giants Visa USA Inc. and MasterCard International Inc. and the lock they have on issuing cards through banks. "I've had a willingness to take on conventional views, to shake things up," says the 53-year-old Chenault. Willingness is one thing, opportunity another. And now Chenault has both. This fall, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to uphold a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that Visa and MasterCard—which together control 79% of the U.S. card market—stifle competition and innovation by forbidding the banks that own them from issuing rival cards. For the first time in its 154-year history, AmEx will have carte blanche to issue plastic through U.S. banks and flood the market with millions of its green, gold, and platinum cards. The ruling, the culmination of an antitrust case launched by the Dept. of Justice six years ago, "will create competition in our industry for the first time," says David W. Nelms, chairman and CEO of Morgan Stanley's Discover Financial Services Inc. unit.