MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 28, 2026--
U.S. Bank doubles down on its commitment to support small business owners with the launch of its U.S. Bank Business Essentials TM Visa® Card and U.S. Bank Business Essentials TM Plus Visa Signature® Card. The cards are designed for small business owners looking for straight-forward rewards on their everyday business purchases. Both offer unlimited 2% cash back on eligible purchases, plus the ability to earn higher cash back when paired with qualifying balances in a qualified business checking account. The card launch also debuts Jessica Alba, an experienced small business owner and actress, as the bank’s new small business spokesperson.
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Business Essentials TM and Business Essentials TM Plus help small business owners increase their financial flexibility by offering expanded purchasing capacity to manage day-to-day expenses and improve cash flow management. Plus, by connecting their banking relationship, owners benefit from seamless cash back reward redemption into their qualifying business checking account or as a statement credit on their card. This allows owners to lower their operating costs by reinvesting back into their business.
Knowing small business owners want to spend more time growing their business than managing it, the cards allow them to centralize business expenses, protect against fraud and access spend management tools. The goal is to provide peace of mind when making business purchases and to make these purchases even more rewarding when owners manage both payments and banking with U.S. Bank.
“Small business owners employ over 61 million Americans and contribute to nearly half of our nation’s GDP; they deserve financial products that reward their ambition and empower them to succeed,” said Courtney Kelso, senior executive vice president of Payments, Consumer and Small Business. “Our new Business Essentials TM cards offer small business owners straightforward, easy-to-use benefits that help simplify their spending, banking and expense management.”
Key features include:
“Our goal is to build long-lasting relationships with small business owners through integrated solutions, not simply give them a card,” Kelso said. “The Business Essentials TM and Business Essentials TM Plus cards reward the strength of small businesses that build deeper connections with U.S. Bank.”
The cards also integrate key capabilities from U.S. Bank’s broader small-business banking services. The award-winning Spend Management platform comes with both the Business Essentials TM and Business Essentials TM Plus cards. With Spend Management, small business owners can easily capture receipts, track card spend, set card controls and integrate with existing accounting software. Also included is U.S. Bank Extend Pay, providing a convenient fixed-fee payment plan for large purchases.
Jessica Alba Campaign Launch
The Business Essentials TM cards launch includes a new advertising and marketing campaign featuring U.S. Bank’s new small business card spokesperson, Jessica Alba.
Alba rose to public prominence as an actress in the early 2000s, but she is equally famous for her work as an entrepreneur and philanthropist. She will appear in digital and television ads for U.S. Bank’s Business Essentials TM and Business Essentials TM Plus credit cards.
“Jessica is an ideal representative for our Business Essentials TM cardholders as she embodies many of the traits we celebrate among small business owners, including a tireless work ethic and the knowledge of what it takes to grow a business,” Kelso said.
About U.S. Bancorp
Headquartered in Minneapolis, U.S. Bancorp is the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association, the fifth-largest commercial bank in the United States. Our three major business lines serve 15 million clients throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe, and our team of nearly 70,000 people invest our hearts and minds to power human potential every day. Ranked 105th on the Fortune 500, we are deeply respected for our culture and long-term stewardship and admired for our diversified business mix and product capabilities.
Disclosures:
Deposit products are offered by U.S. Bank National Association. Member FDIC. The creditor and issuer of this card is U.S. Bank National Association, pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc., and the card is available to United States residents only.
U.S. Bank Business Essentials Visa card.
U.S. Bank Business Essentials Plus Visa Signature credit card.
CAIRO (AP) — Mediators are still working with Iran and the United States on brokering a deal to end the fighting and open the Strait of Hormuz — even after U.S. President Donald Trump publicly rejected Iran's latest proposal, three regional officials and a senior U.S. official told The Associated Press.
The indirect talks were expected to resume on Monday and come as the conflict that's caused global economic damage and badly battered Iran enters its eighth month. Multiple efforts to allow safe shipping on one of the world's most crucial waterways have failed.
The officials divulged that the behind-the-scenes efforts continue even after Trump spurned an Iranian proposal to reopen the strait in a week if the U.S. agreed to lift its blockade of Iranian ports, release frozen Iranian assets and waive sanctions on Iranian oil sales, among other conditions.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, however, remained in New York after last week's gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly. He said he was awaiting “definitive” word from mediators of Trump's rejection. Qatar has been mediating.
Despite Trump’s often bellicose rhetoric, he remains open to pursuing a non-military resolution to the conflict if one can be achieved, said the senior U.S. official.
But the official stressed there's a measure of doubt about whether Iran can be persuaded to ultimately meet Trump's conditions for a deal.
The officials were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity about the behind-the-scenes diplomatic negotiations.
Two of the officials speaking to the AP confirmed that mediators are working with both sides on a proposal that would include reopening the strait and lifting the U.S. blockade, and then removing sanctions.
According to the draft text being discussed, the strait would reopen in accordance with a separate deal that Iran has been discussing with Oman, on the other side of the strait, and it would include no tolls — something Tehran has pursued. That deal seeks to temporarily manage shipping traffic on what was seen as an international waterway before the war.
Despite Trump’s public comments, the U.S. has not officially rejected the current proposal, indicating that his remarks may have been a negotiating tactic, according to the officials.
One regional official said the U.S. is seeking Iranian concessions on its nuclear program, including allowing inspectors to enter the country. Under the Memorandum of Understanding the two sides signed in June that collapsed within days, Iran's nuclear program was meant to be discussed over a 60-day period.
One official reported positive signals coming from both sides. A second reported “slight progress” over the weekend. The third said mediators are still trying “to soften” the positions of both sides.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
While Iran’s latest proposal echoes the June deal, a key difference is speed.
Araghchi told a closed-door meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly last week that Tehran had pitched the deal as benefiting Trump in the midterm elections. Araghchi later told journalists that “the seven-day timeline will start as soon as the United States accepts this plan.”
Both the U.S. and Iran have been hurting economically — the U.S. from high oil prices as Iran attacks ships on the strait, and Tehran from the naval blockade and a growing number of U.S. sanctions that bottle up its oil sales. Brent crude, the international standard, is above $108.
For months, the two sides have been trying to outlast the other, while regional countries endure missile and drone attacks as Tehran claims to target U.S. military assets in the region.
Reflecting Iran's impatience, a rare statement on Monday attributed to the theocracy's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei noted the “painful blows” that enemy forces have received near the strait. “Before long, the Arabian Sea, too, will be rid of them,” the statement added.
Tehran's latest proposal again sought to end the fighting on all fronts, including in Lebanon. But a new front has emerged in recent weeks as Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen are now perched on another crucial waterway, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea. That has further pressured global energy markets.
Iran argues that the Houthis have their own demands, and that their conflict with neighboring Saudi Arabia is separate from the U.S.-Iran war, but Iranian officials said they are willing to help in finding a settlement between the Houthis and the Saudis, one of the officials said.
Lee reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Collin Binkley in Washington and AP Middle East editor Victoria Eastwood contributed to this report.
AP STANDARDS: The AP only uses anonymous sources when the information is vital to the news report and not opinion or speculation. The information must be unavailable except under the conditions of anonymity imposed by the source. The source must be reliable, in a position to have accurate information and approved by news managers.
President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn of the White House after arriving on Marine One, Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaks to the media during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
