Barclays strengthens Corporate Banking in Western Europe

• European footprint improved through increased investment
• Digital Corporate Banking platform developed to support multi-country banking
• More complete range of services available to institutional clients and global corporates
• Enhanced offering boosted by new hires in Europe

Barclays has announced the successful launch of a new digital platform in Western Europe, as part of a wider move to boost its Corporate Banking operations in the region.

The new platform is the culmination of a long-term project, with Barclays’ international corporate and institutional clients in Portugal, Spain, France and Ireland now enjoying access to an enhanced range of services. Germany is also set to join the platform later in the year, followed by other countries, allowing multinational clients to benefit from a simple, easy to manage digital corporate banking service, which complements the bank’s Investment Banking and Barclaycard Payments capabilities in Europe.

This enhanced platform development has been driven by a commitment to introduce products and processes that are already helping the bank’s UK Corporate Banking clients to those domiciled in Europe and to global clients with a presence in Europe. By adapting the systems from the UK, Barclays has been able to seamlessly transfer existing customers and attract new institutional and large corporate clients.

The changes have been designed to give clients the flexibility to structure their banking activity in the way that best suits them, from a location of their choice, and simplifies significantly Barclays’ offering on the continent. Clients can benefit from a consistent set of digital channels across Cash Management, Trade & Working Capital & Information Services in 25 countries through a combination of Barclays offices and partner banks. This is underpinned by a regional support model for streamlined KYC, account opening & digital client on-boarding, client self-help capabilities & centralised multilingual service offering.

The expansion of European operations has been led by David Farrow, Head of International Corporate Banking (ICB) at Barclays, and will be managed by Andres Baltar, the newly appointed Head of Europe for ICB. Andres has expanded his leadership team in the region with the appointment of new country heads for France, Spain and Portugal, who will be tasked with developing new corporate relationships in their respective territories and improving the service experienced by existing clients.

In addition to these leadership appointments, Barclays is also attracting clients in Europe by investing in new teams, including expanding its Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NBFI) business under NBFI Head of Europe, Andy Ponsford. The NBFI growth has been boosted by hiring new specialists based in the region, who will work closely with Barclays’ existing FinTech, Insurance, Private Equity and Asset Management teams in London.

David Farrow said: “We’re a transatlantic bank, so complementing our strength in the UK and US with a comprehensive European proposition allows us to meet the needs of our global clients more effectively. Many of the companies we work with have a presence in a number of European countries, which is why making sure the new platform is standardised across the continent is so important. It’s already making banking simpler for many of our clients, and this ease of use will grow further as we integrate more countries.”

One client already benefitting from access to the improved platform in Europe is Ebury, the financial services provider for businesses. Founded in the UK, Ebury is growing across Europe and has been able to take advantage of Barclays’ enhanced capabilities on the continent to support its expansion.

Mark Hewlett, Wholesale Banking Relationship Director at Ebury, said: “Barclays has been our banking partner since day one and has been instrumental in making Ebury a success. Its knowledge and understanding of our sector is unrivalled. We continue to deepen the relationship with Barclays across Europe and we continually look at how we can make the most of our strengths and capabilities to improve our proposition.

“The Barclays European proposition has enabled us to effectively expand our banking network across the continent, using the same services we enjoy in the UK. Our recent collaboration with Barclays in directly connecting to the Faster Payments scheme is a great example of how we can make the most of the evolving landscape to provide benefits to our clients and ourselves as a client of Barclays. A real win/win relationship.”