Barclays Bank

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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. Barclay's US headquarters are in New York at 200 Park Avenue. From 2004 onwards Barclays has sponsored the FA Premier League.

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.

Contents

1 History of Barclays
2 Bank Charges
3 Constituents of the Barclays Group
4 External links

History of Barclays

1896 — several small London banks unite under the banner of Barclays and Co
1905–1916 — acquisitions of small English banks extends the branch network
1918 — Barclays amalgamated 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 (financial markets) 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
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 had since been taken over by British Telecom in 2001. [link]
2000 — acquisition of Woolwich Plc (formerly the Woolwich Building Society)
2001 — Barclays closes more than 170 rural branches in the UK
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 fof $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.

Bank Charges

Of recent times Barclays Bank has been coming under continued pressure from the UK government, customers and The Bank Action Group over allegedly unfair bank charges.

Constituents of the Barclays Group

Barclaycard US (formerly Juniper Bank, acquired 2003)
Barclays Retail Bank — UK clearing bank
Barclays Business Bank — UK bank
Barclays Wealth Management — Stockbrokers, Offshore and Private bank
Barclays Private Clients International Ltd. — subsidiary based in the Isle of Man with branches in the Channel Islands
Barclaycard — Global credit card business
Barclays Capital — Investment bank
Barclays Global Investors — Investment management company
Woolwich plc — UK mortgage brand
Barclays Africa — To be transferred to ABSA (South Africa)
Barclays Spain
Barclays Portugal
Barclays France
Absa (South Africa)
FIRSTPLUS Financial Group PLC

External links

Commercial banks in the United Kingdom