Barclaycard
Barclaycard is a
credit card provider owned by
Barclays Bank 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, and that it issues one in five UK cards. Barclaycard's main offices are in Northampton, along with several floors of the
One Churchill Place building in
Canary Wharf, where
Barclays main business is based.
Barclaycard was also the main sponsor of
The Premiership (from 2001â€"2004) until
Barclays itself took over at the start of the 2005-2006 season.
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.
In addition to Consumer Credit Card Issuing Barclaycard also operate Barclaycard Business (Merchant Acquiring, Corporate Issuing and Partnership Issuing) and Barclaycard International.
Barclaycard Business were formally 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).
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Barclaycard website
