The answer is: yes. I have a lot of respect for American Express (NYSE AXP), while so many merchants online wish they never heard the name, I realize that American Express, if anything, has never hidden the fact that consumers are their focus and not merchants. While I don’t agree with the strategy, I can say at least I respect their stance in keeping with their focus but can this consumer-centric focus really last?

Card companies like American Express are really about one thing: moving money. But while American Express has held to a higher standard for decades, can that level of arrogance really last when merchants and consumers look for alternatives and card companies tighten their belts on extending more credit? Fact is, American Express has weathered some serious problems in the past and has come out swinging but this one may not be so easy.

If American Express wants to last, it’s going to have to start refocusing its efforts on adding new merchants in ways it never thought it had to. Part of this will mean going against its once staunch position of never negotiating rates and finally open the doors to a more savvy level of merchants who look for better deals and a higher level of respect, something American Express has always been lacking on the merchant front.

I have all the faith in the world that American Express will survive but frankly, while it continues to look for alternatives, I don’t see it happening unless American Express can finally accept the fact that it’s no longer the once mighty company that could selectively choose who it does business with and wake up to the fact that merchants now more than ever will demand better merchant rates and a higher standard of care for their merchant account.