Amex

This guide will help you obtain SFTP credentials and encryption keys and connect American Express (AMEX) as a data source in Payrails to ingest settlement and payout data. With the self-serve flow you configure the integration yourself in the Payrails portal.

Prerequisites

You will need:

• An active American Express Merchant Account
• SFTP Access: A dedicated SFTP username and password assigned to your merchant account
• PGP Encryption: A PGP key pair (you must hold the Private Key) for file decryption

Step-by-step instructions

Step 1: Gather SFTP Credentials and Connection Details

To configure the secure file transfer, you will need to gather the following information:

1. SFTP host and port

Gather the following credentials:

• Host: fsgateway.americanexpress.com
• Username: the AMEX SFTP username assigned to your merchant account (e.g. PAYRAILS...)
• Password: the password associated with this SFTP user
• Port: confirm standard port 22 is used

PGP decryption

• PGP Private Key: the full PEM-encoded private key block to decrypt the files
• Passphrase: (optional) if the private key is password-protected

2. Verify data lifecycle & storage

Before integrating, confirm the file lifecycle logic on your AMEX SFTP server to ensure consistent data retrieval and support for backfills:

• Folder structure: confirm that new reports land in the /outbox/ directory and are automatically moved to /sent/ after download.
• Inbox retention: verify how long files remain in /outbox/ if not picked up (standard is typically 7 days).
• Archive retention: verify how long files persist in /sent/ before permanent deletion (standard is typically 24 hours).
• Backfill availability: determine if older files are available in /sent/ or a separate archive path for re-ingestion.

Step 2: Add the Amex integration in the Payrails portal (self-serve)

1. Log in to the Payrails portal and open Settings → Integrations → Data.
2. Click Add instance (top-right).
3. In New integration instance.
4. On Select provider, choose American Express and click Continue.
5. On the Configure account screen, fill in:
   • Integration instance name — a unique label.
   • Start Date — the date of today or tomorrow (currently backfilling data is not available over the self-serve capability. In the need of backfilling, please reach out to your Payrails account manager).
   • SFTP host — fsgateway.americanexpress.com
   • SFTP username and password
   • Port — 22
   • PGP private key and, if applicable, the passphrase
   • (Optional) Additional data.
6. Click Save account. The instance appears in the Data integrations list and Payrails begins ingesting data.