SBICard to issue its Premium Credit Cards on American Express Network

By | May 19, 2021
SBI Card ELITE amex
SBI Card ELITE on American Express Network

Its been a while since SBI (primary shareholder of SBICard) got into partnership with American Express India with respect to acceptance of American Express cards on SBI terminals (if merchant wishes so).

And now the partnership seem to have got expanded to issuing SBI Credit Cards under amex network, along with Visa/Mastercard/Rupay. Here’s everything you need to know about this partnership.

Why does it matter?

Currently AmEx has tie-ups with ICICI & IndusInd banks to issue credit cards under Amex network. 

When we look into such bank issued amex cards, we could see that the reward earn rate is slightly higher on the Amex variant, compared to the same card under Visa/Mastercard network

But then if a customer takes the Amex variant instead of Visa/Mastercard for its rewards and platform benefits, he may do so but it comes at a cost: relatively poor acceptance.

That aside, many Amex merchant offers that are usually available for proprietary cards are applicable to bank issued super-premium Amex cards too.

One such offer is the complimentary Calm Memberhsip that’s not only eligible for Amex proprietary cards but also eligible for ICICI Emeradle Amex and Indusind Celesta Amex cards.

What are the SBICards on Amex network?

As of now SBICards has confirmed that they will be issuing only premium & super-premium credit cards under American Express Network. That means we can soon get SBI Prime & SBI Elite under American Express network.

However they haven’t commented anything on the accelerated rewards yet. We may know the same in sometime.

What to expect in Future?

A Super-premium credit card from SBICard (finally!)

Amex currently issues super premium cards both with ICICI & Indusind which are ICICI Emeralde Amex (good one) and the Indusind Celesta Amex (useless) respectively.

So we may likely expect a Super-premium credit card from SBICard under Amex network. 

I hope that card is not a flop like Indusind Celesta and wish it comes with benefits like ICICI Emeralde and even much better, perhaps a taste of Amex Platinum.

Speaking of Amex banking cards, I wish it would be great if SBICard & even ICICI/IndusInd have separate Amex trained support team to handle queries from such Amex cardholders, at least for the super-premium cards. 

Bottomline

I was always wondering why SBICard didn’t launch a super premium credit card for a very long time and now I see why, at-least partly.

SBICard – Amex is a very good partnership for both brands as:

  1. Amex now gets access to customers across the nook and corner of the country
  2. SBICard can now provide better benefits & rewards for their premium and affluent customers while at the same time making more revenue from merchants.

If the partnership is implemented well, then SBICard will have a good diversified portfolio of mass entry-level cardmembers and premium/affluent customers. 

Let’s see how it all turns out!

What’s your thoughts on the SBI-Amex tie up? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

20 thoughts on “SBICard to issue its Premium Credit Cards on American Express Network

  1. hari

    They are issuing Amex variants of Elite & Prime cards in Delhi NCR & Mumbai as of now.

    Reply
  2. Rahil Shah

    Would existing cards be eligible for converting from Visa to Amex variant?

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      They’re yet to inform those details. But we can very well expect them to mess up that as they always do so with new card launches. Let’s hope not!

      Reply
  3. Santosh

    will these cards be serviced by AMEX or SBI customer care?
    I had SBI Signature AirIndia card, which i cancelled after 4 years due to their pathetic service and ever decreasing rewards. then I moved to AMEX platinum travel. I am very happy with AMEX. even though the acceptance is lower than visa, overcall my reward is in the same region of what I was getting from SBI visa per year.

    Reply
      1. Mohammad Nooruddin

        How many digits are there in spi prime American express credit card.I have received my recently but only it contains 15 digit

        Reply
  4. Saurav Das

    Sbi card customer service is pathetic! If these cards are not serviced by Amex, these cards might not bring too many new customers.

    Reply
    1. Neeraj

      My experience with SBI card has been different. I recently got the validity of my milestone voucher extended without much fuss. And there is always an option to escalate the matter to nodal officer and senior nodal officer, if unsatisfied.

      Reply
  5. Abhi

    Planning to switch my Prime from Visa to Amex. Would SBIC open a new acc and close the old one or simply update the existing acc no.?

    Reply
  6. Jaydeep Mahipat Mehta

    Intermiles is offering tier benefits for platinum members

    1. Three Complimentary Big Basket vouchers worth Rs. 500 each

    2. Complimentary 6000 intermiles for redemption

    3. Complimentary cure.fit live membership for 6 months

    4. The Man company Gift Card worth Rs. 1500

    5. Four complimentary lounge access at domestic airport for booking made via intermiles.com

    6. Get 2 credits of excess baggage discount of Rs. 750 each for domestic booking made on intermiles.com

    7. 5000 intermiles for redemption at Indian oil pumps

    8. Complimentary Amazon prime membership for 12 months

    Any of 6 benefits from above can be chosen

    Reply
  7. Akshay Rautela

    Hey Sid,

    I’m planning to apply for SBI Air India or Etihad Premier.

    I have two doubts.
    1. Which is the best medium(Website, Bank Rep, PaisaBazaar,etc.) to apply for SBI Card in terms of approval rate and time?
    2. Would these cards be available as AMEX variant. If yes, then how early can we expect and would it be worth it to wait or instead switch variant after a few weeks of AMEX variant’s availability to the general public?

    Would appreciate any help.
    Thanks

    Reply
  8. Ritu

    When will AMEX bring out its festive offers? HDFC, SBI, AXIS, ICICI all have somehow launched theirs, either by direct discount on Flipkart BBD or Amazon GIF sale…but no offers from amex’s side…

    Reply
  9. Aakash Karnani

    I applied for this variant of card two weeks back
    Hassle free process.
    Received my card on 25th October
    Seems okayish
    Maybe ill keep it for an year and decide if its worth it.

    Reply
  10. Ankit Saraf

    SBI has been messing up big with me.

    Prime Card and they dint honour the milestone spend of 5L (7000 voucher). Their system shows lesser total spend than the actual (tallied by 3 different SBI card service reps).

    SimplyClick: Rewards Opening Balance + earned = total. No sir, SBI has a different way of calculating sum of 2 numbers. Rewards details clearly shows the mistake but they wont accept as “they dont provide breakup of the points”.

    Reply
  11. Akshat

    Sbi Amex cards launched.

    Features like Sixt platinum and Tablet plus memberships added on Amex variants

    Reply
  12. The Quintessential Poor

    I have been getting this sms recently to get a new second card from SBI which is a pre approved Prime. If I click on the link will there be an option for an amex variant now ? Are other amex offers like use card 6 times for 1500 and get 1000 mr points applicable on this card ?

    Reply
  13. Pradeep

    hi,

    anybody getting offers for second card from SBI?

    I’m getting sms + email.

    did anyone get it? limit shared or separate?

    Regards

    Reply

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