Barclays PLC: The Parent Company:

Barclays PLC is a chief international financial services provider working in Europe, USA, Australia, Asia, Latin America and Africa. It is a holding company of the Barclay’s Bank PLC and operates through it. Barclay’s PLC is listed on London, New York and Tokyo stock exchanges and is a present sponsor of the English Premier League. According to Forbes Global 2000, Barclays PLC stands as the 18th biggest company in the world. On the basis of Tier 1 capital, it stands fourth in world ranking with a capital base of US$32.5 billion. Furthermore, on the basis of 2007 rankings, it is among the Top 10 banks in the financial industry on market capitalization basis. In UK itself, it is the third largest bank in the UK based on market capitalization (2007 ranking). The bank's headquarter is in London, UK.

History Speaks Of Itself

The bank was established in London in the year 1690 where its name got connected with the business in 1736.The name, Barclays was derived from the name of Alexander and David Barclay, who granted credit lines to the transatlantic slave merchants. By 1896, Several banks in England, particularly Backhouse's Bank of Darlington and Gurney's Bank, amalgamated under the flag of Barclays and Co.

During the period of 1906 till 1916, acquisitions of small banks of England stretched the branch network. In the year 1918, the bank was merged with the London, Provincial and South Western Bank . The British Linen Bank in 1919 was acquired by Barclays Bank despite the fact that it maintained a separate board of directors and carried on issuing its own bank notes. In 1965, Barclys bank moved out of England and expanded its network on a brad scale. The bank established a US affiliate, Barclays Bank of California in USA. 1966 was the year in which the company launched its first credit card, Barclaycard in the UK whereas in the following year, the first ATM cash machine was unveiled in London. By the next three decades, the bank kept going its acquisition process and the buying and selling of assets was on the priority list of the bank. In 1985, Barclays Bank and Barclays Bank International got amalgamated. As an element of the corporate restructuring, the ex- Barclays Bank PLC became a group holding company and was renamed as Barclays PLC.

Barclays sold South African Barclays National Bank in 1986 as an aftermath of the protests against Barclays' connection with South African government. Barclays Bank of California was sold to Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. in 1988 where it bought Wells Fargo Nikko Investment Advisors (WFNIA) and merged it with BZW Investment Management to launch Barclays Global Investors . However by 1998, the BZW business was broken up and its parts were bought by Credit Suisse First Boston.  The bank retained its debt business which laid the basis of today’s Barclays Capital.

With the advent of the internet world, Barclays launched an internet service named as Barclays.net in 1999 which was acquired by British Telecom in 2001. In 2003 the bank bought American credit card entity, Juniper Bank and rebranded it as "Barclays Bank Delaware". Barclays potted a £2.6bn takeover of South Africa’s largest retail bank, Absa Group Limited by acquiring its 54% stake in July 2005.  In, 2007, Barclays proclaimed a merger which was basically a takeover of ABN AMRO. However, it withdrew the bid for ABN AMRO allowing RBS to thrive with their proffer.

Bnaking Operations

Currently, Barclys bank has a strong hold in its banking operations where the areas of operation are Insurance, Loans, Mortgages, Savings, Credit Cards and Financial Planning. Under the insurancce head the bank provides home insurance, car insurance, student possessions insurance. Furthermore, The bank offers secured and unsecured loans to customers and non-customers. One can even borrow up to £100,000 with flexible repayment terms and low interest rates. Besides that loan protection is also available with the bank.

Going forward

Barclays Bank PLC has recently arranged a scheme to acquire Discover’s UK credit card business named ‘the Business’ worth £35m, under cash consideration. As per agreement, Barclays will be buying Discover’s UK credit card business which has almost 1.7 million credit card accounts and about £2.0 bn of gross receivables. Barclays has plans to incorporate ‘the Business’ into its own Barclaycard. The completion of this transaction is expected by mid 2008.