American Express wants to lend more to small businesses

American Express hopes to tide over the bitter credit-card deal with Costco by lending to small businesses.

The two companies ended their 16-year partnership when Costco joined hands with Citi in March 2015. This June, customers will receive their Costco-brand Visa credit cards.

AmEx wants to turn its focus on what it is already familiar with — small business loans. In 2014, AmeEx cards for small businesses funded $190 billion in purchases, up from $122 billion in 2010, with enough reason to believe that there is room to grow the business.

AmEx hopes for the small-business loans to make up for the lost revenue from the Costco deal which accounts 20 percent of the company’s outstanding loans, according to a Reuters report.