Another great learning for me at AmEx was that nothing in life is cast in stone. AmEx globally had sold their banking business to Standard Chartered in 2008. Little did they realize that by virtue of that, their Indian banking licence would become defunct, as in India only licensed banks can issue credit cards. AmEx therefore reached a stalemate with RBI, wherein RBI wouldn’t allow credit card issuance. It is folklore that AmEx then sent their master negotiator: a ‘Jaat’ Texan. The guy walked into the RBI office and said that either RBI had to make it work or they would be responsible for the
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