These Payment SDKs offer a full complement of Authorization and Submission solutions for vendors and merchants across the globe looking to process transactions directly with American Express.

Payment SDKs represent the next generation of digital development tools that will enable connectivity to the American Express payment ecosystem for merchants, third-party processors, gateways and point-of-sale manufacturers. Available directly through the American Express website, Payment SDKs are expected to result in:

• Drastically reduced development times
• Enhanced certification efficiencies
• Ease of access to the American Express suite of value-added solutions like SafeKey and Enhanced Authorization

"We built our Payment SDKs with a relentless focus on improving the developer experience to help ensure that our direct connectivity partners can easily develop and integrate to American Express payment processing services," said Patricia Partelow, Vice President, Innovative Payment Solutions at American Express. "We expect this improved experience to greatly reduce the time and complexity of certification projects and accelerate the digital payments revolution for our merchants and cardmembers."

American Express Payment SDKs include:

• Developer guides
• Sample code
• Integration code
• Sample apps

Partelow said development and certification efforts that previously took months now can be achieved in days, with users able to send preliminary test transactions within hours of downloading the SDKs. Pilot partners have included industry leaders across the spectrum, from major global processors to regional merchants.

While the new Payment SDKs will help bring merchants onboard faster and more efficiently, more importantly they will help drive innovation across the American Express network as digital partners are able to move faster to market with payments solutions.

Payment SDK Features:

• Interfaces with American Express's Payments API platform Internet Direct
• Available in Java & .NET versions
• The Authorization SDK works with all forms of direct connectivity supported by American Express
• Submissions SDK enables a complete and secure payment solution
• Uses American Express global standard specifications
• Provides access to all American Express fraud prevention tools and value added services associated with transaction processing