American Express in advanced talks to buy SoftBank-backed Kabbage

American Express Co.’s small-business aspirations just took another step forward.

The credit-card giant is in advanced talks to buy Kabbage Inc., a person familiar with the matter said, a deal that would make AmEx a bigger lender to mom and pop shops. The company is already the largest US provider of credit cards to those types of operations.

Small businesses bounced back faster during the Covid-19 pandemic than other customers in AmEx’s broader card portfolio, and Chief Executive Officer Steve Squeri said last month that they were the “most resilient” through the crisis.

“Ninety days on now, we actually feel really good about