The Banks That Don't Want to Become Travel Companies
While Chase, Amex and Capital One built their own travel businesses, other major U.S. banks chose to focus on the card rather than the trip.
The premium travel-card competition has divided American banking into two camps: a few companies want to own the entire trip, while most banks prefer to own the customer who pays for it.
According to the article, Citi's cards handled $538 billion in purchases in 2025, Bank of America's handled $378 billion, and Wells Fargo's handled $186 billion. Combined, the three banks processed $1.1 trillion in card spending in a single year.
None of them, however, has built a travel company of its own. By contrast, Chase Travel booked $13 billion last year, with JPMorgan describing it as the third-largest consumer leisure travel seller in America. Capital One is bringing its travel technology in-house, while Amex has operated a travel agency since 1915.
According to the article, the rest of American banking stopped investing in this area earlier, not out of disinterest in travel, but because they decided a different part of the customer relationship was worth more.