Boston » American Express Co. is buying Revolution Money for about $300 million to keep up with trends in electronic payments, where new security features and online transaction options are shaking up traditional models.

Wednesday's deal pairs American Express, a credit card provider tracing its roots to 1850 that has operations in the Salt Lake Valley, with a 4-year-old start-up.

Revolution Money offers payments authorized at checkout counters with a PIN number, with about 1 million merchants participating in the service. To reduce potential for identity theft, Revolution Cards have no name, signature or account number.

Revolution also offers MoneyExchange, a person-to-person service to send and receive money among friends and family, and among people using social and instant messaging networks.

"Acquiring Revolution Money is one step in expanding our reach in emerging payments, and one of the many we expect to take, but an important one," American Express Chairman and CEO Kenneth Chenault said in a conference call.

Janney Capital Markets analyst Thomas McCrohan said in a research note that the acquisition allows American Express "to go into new markets with a lower-cost product without compromising the premium image associated with American Express-branded cards."

The company was founded in 2005, and began offering payment services two years later, launched by AOL co-founder Steve Case's Revolution LLC.