UPDATE 1-American Express launches consulting division

* Company will use data from 90 mln cards in 127 countries

* New division will identify spending patterns

NEW YORK, Nov 19 (Reuters) - American Express Co (AXP.N), the largest U.S. credit card lender by purchases volume, launched a consulting division to provide business customers analyses based on spending trends.

The new division, called Business Insights, will analyze the consumption patterns on approximately 90 million cards in force across 127 markets, American Express said on Thursday.

The "more than four billion transactions that take place each year at American Express serve as the foundation for consumer, small companies and corporate spending patterns," American Express said in a statement.

American Express is the world's third largest credit card network, behind Visa Inc (V.N) and MasterCard Inc (MA.N). (Reporting by Juan Lagorio; Editing by Derek Caney)