Jump to content

Barclays

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 195.188.176.136 (talk) at 14:29, 15 December 2006 (→External links). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Barclays plc
Company typePublic (LSE: BARC, NYSE: BCS, TYO: 8642)
IndustryBanking
Founded1896
HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
Key people
Matthew Barrett, Chairman
Marcus Agius, Chairman-designate
John Varley, Chief Executive
ProductsBanking
Investment banking
Investment management
RevenueIncrease£17.3 billion GBP (2005)
Number of employees
113,300 (2005)
Websitewww.barclays.com
Barclays Bank headquarters
One Churchill Place, Canary Wharf

Barclays PLC (LSE: BARC, NYSE: BCS, TYO: 8642) is the third largest bank in the United Kingdom. The bank can trace its roots back to 1690 in London. The name "Barclay" first arose in 1736. Today the bank is a global financial service provider operating in the UK, Europe, United States, Asia and Africa. The bank's headquarters are at One Churchill Place in Canary Wharf, in London's Docklands, having moved there in May 2005 from Lombard Street in the City of London. Barclays' US headquarters are in New York at 200 Park Avenue. From 2004 onwards Barclays has sponsored the FA Premier League and from 2006 the Churchill Cup.

Barclays PLC is the holding company that is listed on the London, New York and Tokyo Stock Exchange. It consists almost solely of Barclays Bank PLC.

On the global stage, Barclays PLC is the largest bank in the world by total assets ($1.59 trillion), the 14th largest in the world by Tier 1 capital ($32.5 billion), and the 15th largest in the world by Market capitalization ($71.6 billion).

History of Barclays

  • 1896 — several banks in London and the English provinces unite under the banner of Barclays and Co
  • 1905–1916 — acquisitions of small English banks extends the branch network
  • 1918 — Barclays amalgamates with the London, Provincial and South Western Bank
  • 1965 — Barclays establishes a US affiliate, Barclays Bank of California in San Francisco.
  • 1966 — Barclaycard launched, the first credit card in the UK
  • 1967 — Barclays unveils the first ATM cash machine
  • 1969 — acquisition of Martins Bank
  • 1986 — Barclays sells its South African operations under the Barclays National Bank name due to protests against Barclays involvement in a country that was under apartheid at the time.
  • 1986 — buys de Zoete & Bevan and Wedd Durlacher to form BZW, to take advantage of Big Bang on the London Stock Exchange
  • 1988 — Barclays sells Barclays Bank of California to Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
  • 1994 — Edgar Pearce, the "Mardi Gras Bomber" begins a terror campaign against the bank
  • 1996 — buys Wells Fargo Nikko Investment Advisors (WFNIA) and merges it with BZW Investment Management to form Barclays Global Investors
  • 1998 — BZW business broken up, parts sold to Credit Suisse First Boston. Retains debt business which forms the foundation of what is now Barclays Capital.
  • 1999 — In an unusual move as part of the trend at the time for free ISPs Barclays launched an internet service called Barclays.net. This entity has since been taken over by British Telecom in 2001. [1]
  • 2000 — acquisition of Woolwich Plc (formerly the Woolwich Building Society)
  • 2001 — Barclays closes 171 branches in the UK, many of them in rural communities. Calls itself 'THE BIG BANK', this is quickly pushed under the carpet after a series of embarrassing PR stunts.
  • 2003 — Barclays buys American credit card company Juniper Bank from CIBC, re-branding it as "Barclays Bank Delaware". Acquisition of Banco Zaragozano, the 11th Spanish bank.
  • 2005 — Barclays seals £2.6bn takeover of Absa, South Africa's largest retail bank, acquiring a 54% stake on July 27
  • 2006 — Barclays purchases HomEq servicing corporation for $469 million in cash from Wachovia Corp.
  • 2006 — Barclays announces plans to re-brand Woolwich branches as Barclays, migrating Woolwich customers onto Barclays accounts and migrating back-office processes onto Barclays systems. The Woolwich brand will be used for Barclays mortgages.

Constituents of the Barclays Group

Personal Banking provided by Barclays

Barclays has many high street branches, where customers can pay-in and withdraw money and cheques into/from their accounts. Barclays provides paying-in books for this purpose. Barclays has also joined up with the Post Office Ltd to provide personal banking services to customers who live near a Post Office branch.

Most Barclays branches have 24/7 ATM machines, which are called 'Hole in the Wall.'. Barclays customers and customers of many other banks can withdraw money and check their balance free of charge.

Barclays and their disability policy

Most high street Barclays branches have improved facilities for disabled users.

References

en:Barclays

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Barclays&oldid=94510254"