Barclays PLC (, , ) 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.

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. ^*
• 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

• Official site
• Yahoo! — Barclays Bank PLC Company Profile
• Barclays Bank UK
• Barclays USA
• Barclays press release - Barclays puts Woolwich at heart of UK retail revitalisation

1896 establishments | Banks of the European Union | Banks of the United Kingdom | Barclays Group | Companies based in London

Барклейс банк | Barclays