No, the FRs are because AMEX hates on financial heretics. As a newly minted bank they have some fear of the unknown as well as a predisposition to be liberal in burning customers at the stake. You mistake zeal with fanatical devotion to the pope (His Holiness, The AMEX FR Playbook). First they shut all your accounts down to get you attention, then they make demands, then they take their time to check you out, then they cut your credit line to show they mean business, then in a year you are redeemed (which just means worthy of a future inquisition).

Prefer you don't do AP with AMEX. AMEX is better in grocery stores for those peculiar groceries that are long, thin and plastic. The AMEX cardinals cannot tell the difference between a turnip and a gift card bought in a grocery store. And people gotta eat, but they don't gotta do a bundle of repetitive transactions on AP.