Barclays is a prominent British banking institution that considers both the United Kingdom and the United States as its primary markets. The bank is renowned for offering a wide range of financial services and products, including investment banking, corporate banking, personal banking, wealth management, and credit card services. Barclays aims to focus on its core competencies in these areas, operating primarily from its two strategic locations in the world’s financial hubs – London and New York City.
Barclays is the oldest among major international global banks, with a history that dates back over 325 years to its founding in 1690 on Lombard Street in London. Over the past 325 years, it has been at the forefront of numerous banking innovations. These include introducing the world’s first ATM machine and developing industry-leading mobile payment services
Today, Barclays has a global presence, operating in more than 40 countries and territories, with a workforce exceeding 130,000 employees worldwide. The bank has established a strong foothold in key international markets across various regions. In the Americas, it operates in the United States, Brazil, Canada, and Mexico. Its Asia Pacific presence includes Australia, India, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore. In Africa and the Middle East, Barclays has operations in Egypt, Israel, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, and the UAE. The bank’s European presence extends beyond the UK to include France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
Barclays’ operational structure is divided into two distinct business units: Barclays UK and Barclays Corporate & International. The UK division serves consumers and small to medium-sized businesses, comprising UK retail banking, UK wealth services, the UK consumer credit card business, and corporate banking for smaller businesses. This division serves 22 million retail customers and one million business clients, making Barclays a leading provider of financial products and services in the UK and globally.
By April 2018, Barclays established Barclays Bank UK PLC (BBUKPLC), a new ring-fenced bank, which operates separately from Barclays Bank PLC. This restructuring was in response to UK government regulations aimed at protecting retail banking services from the risks associated with investment banking activities.
Barclays Bank UK PLC manages day-to-day banking products and services for individuals and small businesses within the UK, including personal banking, mortgages, credit cards, and business banking. Meanwhile, Barclays Bank PLC continues to handle services for larger corporate, wholesale, and international banking clients.
Within Barclays UK, personal banking offers a comprehensive suite of products including checking and savings accounts, various types of loans (personal, car, and credit card), insurance products (travel, home, and life), and mortgages. The UK credit card business is centered around the Barclay Card brand. The wealth, entrepreneurs, and business banking segment provides services such as private banking, wealth advisory, and wealth investment.
The Barclays Corporate & International division encompasses all of the bank’s operations and offerings outside the UK. This diversified trans-atlantic banking unit includes the bank’s market-leading corporate banking services in the UK, its world-class investment banking arm, the growing U.S. and global credit card businesses, international wealth services, and advanced merchant payment processing systems through Barclaycard merchant and corporate banking. This division boasts significant scale in consumer lending and wholesale banking, offering substantial growth potential, core strength in critical markets, and a balanced mix of revenue streams.
The Corporate & International Division focuses on three key business areas. First, its Corporate and Investment Bank provides comprehensive banking services for large corporations, including access to securities markets, debt issuance, and business research. Second, the Consumer Cards and Payments segment concentrates on the proprietary Barclay Card credit card offering and merchant processing services both in the United States and internationally. Lastly, Barclaycard and Wealth International manages over 40 different credit card branding relationships, offering credit card services for various sectors including travel, entertainment, education, finance, and retail. This segment also provides wealth management services to the bank’s diverse portfolio of international individual and institutional clients.
