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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.
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Encyclopedia
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 at Barclays' corporate HQ, One Churchill Place in Canary Wharf, London.
Barclaycard was also the main sponsor of the FA Premier League (from 20012004) until Barclays itself took over at the start of the 2004-2005 season.
Barclaycard UK
Barclaycard has 19.2 million customers in the UK, issuing one in five UK credit cards. It is currently the leading UK credit card issuer.
It is based at 1234 Pavilion Drive in Northampton in a specially designed building where it employs approximately 3000 people. It is one of the main employers in Northampton.
Barclays were the only major British clearing bank not to issue cheque guarantee cards, instead allowing its customers to guarantee cheques with their Barclaycard (on the basis that if a customer was creditworthy for a Barclaycard they were also good for issuing cheques). This practice ended in 1985 with the introduction of relaxed lending rules and the introduction of the debit card Barclays Connect.
History of Barclaycard UK
- 1966 Barclaycard, the UK's first credit card, is launched
- 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 announces 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
- 2007 — Barclaycard launches 3 new products to its range of credit cards: Barclaycard OnePulse, Barclaycard Football, and Barclaycard Breathe
- 2008 — Barclaycard purchases Goldfish, Discover Financial Services' UK credit card division, for $70 million, gaining 1.7 million customers and $3.9 billion in receivables
The Barclaycard commercials
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Rowan Atkinson starred in a series of Barclaycard adverts. The first advert involved Atkinson's character, spy 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 adverts following, Richard is accompanied by a protegι called Bough. Bough is the person who approves of Barclaycard 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, in one particularly well-known advert, confuses a head honcho from MI5 for a plumber at a crime scene.
The other well-known thing about the advert is the theme tune. This advert was the basis for the film Johnny English, which also starred Rowan Atkinson (the name of his character was changed from Richard Latham to Johnny English).
In Autumn 2008 to promote contactless payment technology and a change in branding, Barclaycard released a campaign featuring a fantasy water slide. Conceived by creative agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty and shot in Sγo Paulo, the TV advert feature a man (played by Robert Wilfort) leaving work via a slide and passing various contactless payment sites on his way home. The TV advert was directed by Peter Thwaites and set to The Bellamy Brothers' "Let Your Love Flow", which, due to the resultant popularity, re-entered the UK Singles Chart and peaked at No. 21.
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.
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)
- 2007 Launch in India and Dubai
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.
Other Elements of Barclaycard
In addition to Barclaycard UK and Barclaycard International, there is also Barclaycard Payment Acceptance (Merchant Acquiring, Corporate Issuing and Partnership Issuing). Until November 2008 Barclaycard Payment Acceptance were formerly known as Barclaycard Business previous to which they were 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).
Barclaycard have now teamed up with London's Transport for London to combine a credit card with an Oyster card - called OnePulse. This new card was launched in the Autumn of 2007.
Sponsorship
Barclaycard replaced Carling as sponsors of England's Premier League in 2001, an association which lasted three years before Barclays took over.
Ofcom fines Barclaycard for silent calls
In September 2008 Ofcom fined Barclaycard the maximum £50,000 for making silent calls
Trivia
In various elements of the British Army, a method of entry with a shotgun is referred to as a "Barclaycard entry", after the 1980s British advertising slogan, "A Barclaycard can get you anywhere."
See also
External links
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