Amex and Foursquare Debut Deals in the U.K.

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American Express and Foursquare have extended their relationship into the United Kingdom, in an initiative that involves retail and restaurant partners Tesco, Primark, House of Fraser, Strada, Bella Italia, PizzaExpress, Eat, and others. If consumers sync up their Amex card with the Foursquare smart phone app, they can reveive either a £10 or £5 credit rebate, depending on the brand.

For the geo-social company, the commercial move appears to represent the fruit of its first hire in the country last fall, when Foursquare brought aboard Omid Ashtari as U.K. business development director. The New York-based tech brand, which claims 20 million users worldwide, said its U.K. audience is 70 percent bigger than it was at this time a year ago.

And with the London Olympics coming, the U.K. could be one of the more interesting countries this summer for Foursquare. It's already running a check-ins special with the International Olympics Committee to offer the chance of winning tickets to the prestigious sporting event.

For Amex, the effort builds on its "Link > Like > Love" campaign that runs not only on Foursquare but also Facebook and Twitter. The New York-based credit giant is obviously serious about becoming a major mobile payments player, promoting Link > Like > Love in its broadcast TV commercials for the last several weeks.

Meanwhile, here's how the Amex-Foursquare marriage works for consumers:

• Sync Amex card with Foursquare account online.
• Check in at a location.
• Tap a "redeem offer" button.
• Pay with Amex card.
• Get a Foursquare push notification about the money-back reward (see image) within moments after the card is swiped by the merchant.

Mashable first reported the U.K. launch.