1. More Built-In Financial Tools
Over the past few years, several companies have begun offering business credit cards that function as part of all-in-one financial platforms. Many of these are corporate cards such as the Ramp Business Card and Brex Card*, with other examples including corporate cards from Rippling, Divvy and Corpay.
With these business cards, rewards are only part of the overall package. Businesses also gain value from various platforms’ integrated expense management and accounting automation tools, many which are now powered by AI.
While plenty of third-party financial operations platforms will work with any business credit card, these end-to-end solutions have been gaining traction. And larger banks appear to be taking notice. For example, as part of its refresh of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (Terms apply, see rates & fees), Amex introduced up to $2,400 in annual statement credits for American Express One AP®, earned after $250,000 in yearly spend. This creates an incentive for cardholders to adopt Amex’s own accounts payable platform.
For its part, Capital One has added free AP and expenses management tools to its lineup of Capital One business credit cards. The push toward integrated financial features like these shows no signs of slowing in 2026.
2. New and Expanded Partnerships
For issuers that don’t focus on financial tools, the trend has been toward bolstering their partner perks. A prime example is the Sapphire Reserve for Business℠, which launched in the summer of 2025. It includes an array of credits and discounts with third parties including Google Workspace, ZipRecruiter, GiftCards.com, Lyft and DoorDash (subject to activation).
In late 2025, the American Express® Business Gold Card (Terms apply, see rates & fees) added a $150 annual Squarespace credit to its existing list of statement credits for purchases with specific merchants (enrollment required, subject to auto-renewal). And the Amex Business Platinum introduced a new partnership with The Leading Hotels of the World, granting Leaders Club Sterling status to card members in addition to existing Hilton and Marriott Gold status benefits with enrollment. Expect more partnerships like these as issuers look for fresh ways to differentiate themselves.
Co-brand partnerships strengthened throughout 2025 as well. Chase has long been the issuer of branded credit cards for IHG and Southwest. But it wasn’t until 2025 that it added complimentary IHG Platinum status (through December 31, 2027) to the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and Sapphire Reserve for Business℠. Chase now also offers IHG Diamond status and Southwest perks for Sapphire Reserve cardholders who spend $75,000 each calendar year and Sapphire Reserve for Business cardholders who spend $120,000 annually.
American Express deepened its partnership with Hilton in late 2024 by adding up to $50 quarterly credits to the Business Platinum for purchases made directly with Hilton properties (enrollment required). Looking ahead, both the personal and business versions of the Sapphire Reserve are slated to grant Hyatt Explorist status to top spending cardholders starting mid-2026. Look for issuer-brand integrations to only deepen in 2026 as competition for premium business customers intensifies.
3. Increased Adoption of Stablecoin Payments
For companies that make cross-border payments, stablecoins can streamline transactions and reduce currency conversion costs. Stablecoins are digital currencies pegged to a traditional currency like the U.S. dollar. By accepting stablecoins, card payments can clear in minutes and often a fraction of the cost of international wire transfers.
Because of these advantages, some corporate card issuers like Brex and Ramp have announced support for stablecoin transactions. Recently, J.P. Morgan launched JPM Coin, a deposit token that works like a stablecoin, but is specific to the issuing institution, J.P. Morgan. As digital assets become more regulated and widely adopted, we expect additional corporate and business credit card companies to follow suit to better cater to the needs of global companies.
4. Bigger Incentives for Bigger Spenders
Throughout 2025, Capital One occasionally offered tiered welcome bonuses on some of its most popular business credit cards such as the Capital One Venture X Business and Capital One Spark Cash Plus. The structure of these offers allows businesses to unlock additional bonuses as they hit higher spending thresholds.
With its latest refresh, the Amex Business Platinum increased the earnings to 2X Membership Rewards® for eligible purchases of $5,000 or more (up from 1.5X) up to the spending cap. Also, the Sapphire Reserve for Business and Amex Platinum both now offer bonus perks for annual high spenders, with thresholds of $120,000 for the Sapphire Reserve for Business and $250,000 for the Amex Business Platinum. We wouldn’t be surprised to see more issuers adopt similar multilevel bonuses and benefits packages to attract high-spending businesses.
5. Wider Variety of Flexible Financing Options
A 2025 National Bureau of Economic Research paper found that while business credit card balances have declined slightly from 2022-2023 highs, interest payments have continued their steady rise. Issuers may respond by offering financing features such as lengthier intro APR offers or grace periods.
Currently, most business cards cap intro periods at 12 months, while top personal cards offer as long as 20-plus months of an intro APR. It wouldn’t shock us to see some of the best business credit cards in 2026 extend their intro APR periods into the 13- to 18-month range. Some might also add intro APRs on balance transfers, which only a few currently provide such as the U.S. Bank Triple Cash Rewards Visa® Business Card and the PNC Visa® Business Credit Card*.
Some issuers are also testing flexible payment structures. The Flex Visa Infinite® Business Card*, which launched in mid-2025, offers up to 60 days of 0% interest on eligible purchases with the opportunity to earn up to 1.75% in cash back for earlier payments. The Plum Card® from American Express (Terms apply, see rates & fees) gives users 60 days interest-free or 1.5% cash back on the portion of your eligible balance paid within 10 days of the statement closing date. And the Amazon Business Prime American Express Card* lets you choose between earning rewards or 90-day payment terms on Amazon purchases.
Expect more business cards to experiment with flexible, interest-saving structures like these in 2026.
6. Continued Evolution of Airline and Hotel Business Credit Cards
As general rewards cards enhance their rewards and perks, co-branded airline and hotel cards have already begun making changes of their own to stay competitive. In 2025, Chase refreshed all its United-branded cards, and along the way increased the value potential of both the United℠ Business Card* and United Club℠ Business Card*. Southwest also revamped its lineup of credit cards, introducing free checked bags and complimentary assigned seating (including Preferred seats at booking with the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card* card).
Meanwhile, Hyatt recently confirmed that it will expand its portfolio of credit cards in 2026. Whether this includes a new or revamped business card remains to be seen. We also have our eyes on Citi. Now that it will be the sole issuer of American Airlines credit cards, we wonder if a premium AAdvantage business credit card could be on the horizon.
7. Staying Power for Cards That Keep Things Simple
As many business credit cards adopt the strategies above to entice customers in 2026, this could also open a window of opportunity for cards that buck the trends by sticking to the basics. Those who aren’t interested in fancy extras may feel drawn more than ever to no-annual-fee cash-back cards like the Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card, the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card, the Signify Business Cash® Card by Wells Fargo* and The American Express Blue Business Cash™ Card (Terms apply, see rates & fees). With these cards, it’s still about the rewards—and that’s exactly what many no-nonsense business owners still want from a business credit card.