It is a holding company that is listed on the London and New York stock exchanges, and was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange until 2008.According to Datamonitor, by market share, Barclays is the largest financial services provider globally with $3.7 trillion of assets. It is the second largest bank in the United Kingdom and the world based on asset size.

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.

Quick Stats

Type – Public LSE: BARC,NYSE: BCS,
Founded – 1690
Headquarters – Tower Hamlets, London, England, UK
Area served – Worldwide
Key people – Marcus Agius, John S. Varley, Robert Diamond
Industry – Banking
Products – Retail banking,Commercial banking,Investment banking,Investment management, Private Equity
Revenue – £29.8 billion (2009)
Operating income – £5.077 billion (2008)
Net income – £5.287 billion (2008)
Employees – 148,000 (2008)
Subsidiaries – Barclays Bank plc
Website – Barclays.com

Brief History Of Barclays Bank UK

This bank traces its origins back to 1690 when John Freame and Thomas Gould started trading as goldsmith bankers in Lombard Street, London. The name “Barclays” became associated with the business in 1736, when James Barclay, son-in-law of John Freame, one of the founders, became a partner in the business.

In 1896 several banks in London and the English provinces, notably Backhouse’s Bank of Darlington and Gurney’s Bank of Norwich, united under the banner of Barclays and Co., a joint-stock bank. Between 1905 and 1916 Barclays extended its branch network by making acquisitions of small English banks.

Barclaycard, the first credit card in the UK, was launched in 1966 and in 1967 Barclays unveiled the world’s first ATM cash machine at Enfield, north London. British actor Reg Varney was the first one to use the ATM.

In 1980, Barclays Bank International expanded its business to include commercial credit and took over American Credit Corporation, renaming it BarclaysAmerican.In 1985 Barclays introduced Connect, the first debit card in the United Kingdom.The year 2000 saw the acquisition of Woolwich plc (formerly the Woolwich Building Society)

In 2003 Barclays bought the American credit card company Juniper Bank from CIBC, re-branding it as “Barclays Bank Delaware”. The same year saw the acquisition of Banco Zaragozano, the 11th Spanish bank.

Barclays took over sponsorship of the Premier League from Barclaycard in 2004. In 2008 Barclays bought the credit card brand Goldfish for $70 million gaining 1.7 million customers, and $3.9 billion in receivables. Barclays also bought a controlling stake in the Russian retail bank Expobank for $745 million. Later in the year Barclays commenced its Pakistan operations with initial funding of $100 million.

On September 16, 2008, Barclays announced its agreement to purchase, subject to regulatory approval, the investment-banking and trading divisions of Lehman Brothers, a United States financial conglomerate that had filed for bankruptcy. In the deal, Barclays will also acquire the New York headquarters building of Lehman Brothers.

On September 20, 2008, a revised version of the deal, a $1.35 billion (£700 million) plan for Barclays plc to acquire the core business of Lehman Brothers (mainly Lehman’s $960 million Midtown Manhattan office skyscraper, with responsibility for 9,000 former employees), was approved. Manhattan court bankruptcy Judge James Peck, after a 7 hour hearing, ruled: “I have to approve this transaction because it is the only available transaction.

Recent developments- Barclays During Financial Crisis

Reuters later reported that the British government would inject £40 billion ($69 billion) into three banks including Barclays, which might seek over £7 billion. Barclays later confirmed that it rejected the Government’s offer and would instead raise £6.5 billion of new capital (£2 billion by cancellation of dividend and £4.5 billion from private investors)

In March 2009 it was reported that in 2008, Barclays received billions of dollars from its insurance arrangements with AIG, including $8.5bn from funds provided by the United States taxpayers to bail out AIG.

On 12 June, 2009, Barclays sold its Global Investors unit, which includes its exchange traded fund business, iShares, to BlackRock for $13.5bn.

On 12 June, 2009, Barclays sold its Global Investors unit, which includes its exchange traded fund business, iShares, to BlackRock for $13.5bn.

Standard Life sold Standard Life Bank plc to Barclays plc in October 2009. The sale completed on 1 January 2010.

On 11 November, 2009, Barclays and First Data, a global technology provider of information commerce, have entered into a agreement according to which Barclays will migrate a range of card portfolios to First Data’s issuing and consumer finance platform.

On February 13th 2010 Barclays announced it would pay more than $2 billion in bonuses.