Barclaycard

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Barclaycard is a global credit provider (credit cards and loans) owned by Barclays plc in the UK. The Barclaycard was the first credit card introduced in the UK, coming into service in 1966. It enjoyed a monopoly until the introduction of the Access card in 1972.

Barclaycard later became part of the VISA network. Nowadays, Barclays offers both MasterCard and VISA versions. Barclaycard claims it is Europe's leading issuer of credit cards with 11 million in circulation. Barclaycard's main offices are in Northampton, along with several floors of the One Churchill Place building in Canary Wharf, where Barclays main business is based.

Barclaycard was also the main sponsor of The FA Premier League (from 2001–2004) until Barclays itself took over at the start of the 2005-2006 season.

Contents 1 Barclaycard UK 1.1 History of Barclaycard UK 1.2 The Barclaycard Commercials 2 Barclaycard International 2.1 History of Barclaycard International 3 Providian 4 Other Elements of Barclaycard 5 See also 6 External links

[edit] Barclaycard UK

Barclaycard has 9.2 million customers in the UK, issuing one in five UK credit cards. It is currently the leading UK credit card issuer.

[edit] History of Barclaycard UK

• 1966 — Barclaycard is launched - the UK's first credit card
• 1977 — Barclaycard Business is introduced; Barclaycard becomes a founder member of the international VISA system
• 1982 — Barclays Premier Card introduced
• 1986 — Barclaycard launches first loyalty scheme
• 1990 — Barclaycard MasterCard launched
• 1995 — Barclaycard launches Barclaycard Gold and Barclaycard Sense cards; Barclaycard is the first credit card company to go onto the Internet with Barclaycard Netlink
• 1997 — Barclaycard is the first UK credit company to allow bills to be paid over the internet
• 1999 — Barclaycard launches Platinum card
• 2001 — Barclaycard announce three-year sponsorship of FA Premiership; Barclaycard sponsors the Young People's Trust for the Environment - designed to promote environmental education to UK school children.

[edit] The Barclaycard Commercials

In the late 80s and early 90s, Rowan Atkinson starred in a series of Barclaycard adverts. The first advert involved Richard Latham entering HQ to be told about his next mission. He is given a Barclaycard. The advert ends with Richard coming out of a sentry box with an oblivious sentry guard.

In the advert following, Richard is accompanied by a protege called Bough. Bough is the person that approves of Baclaycard and tells Richard of its benefits, much to Richard's disagreement. In the adverts, Richard burns the end of a rug, breaks a vase for a wedding present (and disturbs the photo of the wedding) and, the well-known advert, confusing a head honcho from MI5 for a plumber at a crime scene (for more information, or to see the advert above, go to www.tvwhirl.co.uk).

The other well-known thing about the advert is the theme tune. This advert was the basis for Johnny English, which also starred Rowan Atkinson (although he was changed from Richard Latham to Johnny English).

[edit] Barclaycard International

Barclaycard operates in over 60 countries and has circa 1 million customers outside the UK. Barclaycard International claims that to date 1.8 million cards have been issued and that over 35,000 transactions are processed daily.

[edit] History of Barclaycard International

• 1991 — Launch in Germany
• 1997 — Dollar Card launch
• 1998 — Launch in France
• 1999 — Launch in Spain and Greece
• 2001 — Barclaycard launches in Botswana
• 2002 — Barclaycard launched in Italy
• 2003 — A collaborative credit card agreement with Standard Bank in South Africa is launched
• 2004 — Ireland, Portugal and Egypt Launch; Acquires US credit card issuer Juniper Financial Corporation
• 2007 - Irish portfolio sold to Bank of Scotland (Ireland)

[edit] Providian

In 2002 Barclaycard took over the UK wing of the American Company Providian National Bank when it was sold off due to financial irregularities of its American parent company. Providian's former base in Crawley (West Sussex) is now fully part of the Barclaycard group, mainly catering for the very lower end of the credit card market. This targeting of the less affluent has created a lot of controversy as invariably the people targeted have existing financial problems.

[edit] Other Elements of Barclaycard

In addition to Barclaycard UK and Barclaycard International, there is also Barclaycard Business UK (Merchant Acquiring, Corporate Issuing and Partnership Issuing). Barclaycard Business were formerly known as Barclaycard Merchant Services (BMS). As a Merchant Acquirer they enjoy around 38% of the UK Acquiring Business. They offer a number of channels including internet payments (ePDQ) and small merchant bank-owned terminals (PDQ Terminals) normally provided by Ingenico (formally Fortronic).

[edit] See also

• Barclays plc
• Credit card
• VISA (credit card)
• MasterCard

[edit] External links

• Barclaycard UK
• Barclaycard Business UK
• Barclaycard Germany
• Barclaycard Italy
• Barclaycard Spain
• Barclaycard Portugal
• Barclaycard Greece