Amex
American Express processes card transactions on its own network and reports on them through files, not an API. This connector is batch file delivery only: Amex writes GRRCN reports to a Secure File Transfer (SFT) location once a day, and Athia collects and parses them from there.
Nothing on this connector is self-serve. Your Amex relationship manager sets up SFT and configures report delivery, and your Athia team completes the connection. Involve both before you plan any work that depends on Amex data.
What you get
Everything arrives inside the GRRCN reports (Raw Data; Global Reconciliation reports):
- Authorizations — amounts, dates and scheme data.
- Settlements.
- Fees.
- Disputes.
This is how Amex volume — which never appears in your acquirer's data — joins the rest of your payment picture for reconciliation and cost analysis.
Before you start
- An Amex account with a relationship manager who can set up the Secure File Transfer (SFT) service for you.
- GRRCN reports configured for daily delivery to that SFT location. Ask for all available GRRCN reports — a report that was never requested cannot be backfilled from Athia's side.
- The SFT connection details in hand. Amex supplies them; you do not create them.
Credentials Athia asks for
All four values come from Amex with the SFT setup.
| Field | Required | What it is / where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Yes | Your label for this connection — name it so the Amex source is obvious later |
| URL / Host | Yes | The SFT host Amex delivers to, for example sft.americanexpress.com. Supplied by your Amex relationship manager |
| Port | Yes | The SFT port — 22 for SFTP. Supplied with the host |
| Username | Yes | The SFT account username issued by Amex |
| Password | Yes | The password for that SFT account. Store and transfer it securely |
Setting up the connection
- Contact your Amex relationship manager and ask them to set up the Amex Secure File Transfer (SFT) service.
- In the same conversation, request daily delivery of all available GRRCN reports (Raw Data; Global Reconciliation reports) to that SFT location.
- Collect the SFT details Amex gives you: URL / Host, Port, Username and Password.
- Pass those details to your Athia team, together with the merchant accounts you expect to see. Your Athia team completes the connection and verifies that the SFT location is reachable and a sample file can be read.
On success the connection shows as ACTIVE and the first import runs against the files already at the SFT location.
Webhook
Amex supports no webhooks and no API polling. There is no notification URL to register and no endpoint to poll. Every field on this connector arrives in the daily GRRCN batch.
Sync cadence
Daily, fixed. The cadence follows Amex's delivery schedule, so there is no Schedule to choose. Nothing on this connector is real time — a transaction is visible in Athia after it appears in a GRRCN file.
Limits and things to know
- Filtering is limited to what the reports contain. There is no query interface behind this connector, so if a field is not in a GRRCN report, it is not available.
- Production only. There is no sandbox path for this connector.
- Request every GRRCN report up front. Adding a report type later means going back to your relationship manager and waiting for the next daily cycle.
- Multiple merchant accounts. Make sure every account you care about is included in the GRRCN reports. Where Amex issues separate SFT details per account, provide each set to your Athia team.
- History from before delivery started is a separate load. Route it through a file drop — see Integrating Athia.
- Card data is minimized. Field-level detail on what Athia stores is in Athia Data Dictionary.
Troubleshooting
| What you see | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Verification fails on access to the SFT location | Wrong host or port, or the SFT password has been rotated by Amex | Re-confirm URL / Host, Port, Username and Password with your Amex relationship manager and give the current set to your Athia team |
ACTIVE, but no data after the first sync | No GRRCN files have been delivered to the location yet | Confirm with your relationship manager that GRRCN reports are configured for daily delivery to that exact location, then wait for the next daily cycle |
| Authorizations arrive but fees, settlements or disputes do not | Only part of the GRRCN report set was configured | Ask your relationship manager to add the remaining GRRCN reports to the daily delivery |
| One merchant account is missing entirely | That account is not included in the GRRCN reports, or it delivers to a different SFT location | Have Amex add it to the reports, or provide its separate SFT details to your Athia team |
| Today's transactions are not visible | Expected — delivery is a daily batch | Wait for the next daily file. There is no faster path on this connector |
Related
- Athia Connectors — the full connector catalog
- Integrating Athia — file drops, warehouse shares and the other integration paths
- Athia Data Dictionary — field definitions
Updated 1 day ago