BNI0018

Submission from Barclays

Introduction

• Barclays welcomes the opportunity to contribute written evidence to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee inquiry into banking structure in Northern Ireland.
• Barclays is a major global financial services provider engaged in personal banking, credit cards, corporate and investment banking and wealth and investment management with an extensive international presence in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. Barclays’ purpose is to help people achieve their ambitions – in the right way.
• Barclays has operated in Northern Ireland since 1978 with a Retail, Wealth & Investment Management and Corporate presence.

• Barclays aims to provide all of its customers with the choice of how, when and where they interact with us. Barclays is committed to a multi-channel approach: customers can use branches, internet, mobile, 24/7 telephone banking, ATMs and the Post Office. 73% of customers are registered for online banking and more than half use it regularly.

• Barclays does not differentiate its banking offering in Northern Ireland, and customers have access to the full range of Barclays services.

Retail Banking

• Barclays has 1,577 branches used by 11 million customers per annum in the UK.
• Barclays has 9 branches in Northern Ireland which also incorporates our Business Bank.
• Barclays’ agency arrangement with the Post Office enables personal customers to withdraw and deposit cash and cheques at any of c.11,000 branches in Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales.
• We are investing in our network of branches, opening new branches, refurbishing (and closing under-utilised branches that offer limited functionality) in order to focus our investment in the areas where our customers need us most. We spent £125 million on 296 branch refurbishments in 2011. In total, we have refurbished almost 1,200 of our branches since 2007 and 88% of our customer base have visited one of them.
• A new Belfast flagship branch, due to open in 2014 illustrates the need to move to fewer, larger premises to reflect the changing needs of customers.
• The changing needs of customers have required banks to diversify their distribution channels and find new, innovative ways of meeting customers’ needs.

Business Banking

• In anticipation of our expanded NI branch network we have recently made a number of new hires to our Business Banking team, which provides finance to SME’s with a turnover of less than £5m per annum.
• We now have a team of 5 in our core Business Banking team, and we have recently established a new Agriculture team comprising 3 dedicated Relationship Managers.
• We would anticipate continuing to expand our Business Banking team over the coming 12 months.

Corporate Banking

• Barclays has had a Corporate Banking presence in Northern Ireland since 1996.
• Our business has historically concentrated on providing banking services to some of the largest public and private sector organisations in the province.
• This will likely include expanding our reach into the SME market, in conjunction with the expansion of our Business Banking team.

Wealth & Investment Management

• The Northern Ireland Wealth & Investment Management presence was established in 2008, at a time when the banking industry was experiencing substantial uncertainty.
• Wealth Management, UK & Ireland offers bespoke banking and investment solutions to high net worth individuals. Services include financial planning, advisory and discretionary investment advice.
• Barclays actively recruits and has sought to repatriate local NI talent – the local NI team now comprises of 8 skilled experienced professionals from a range of banking, advisory and support disciplines.
• The local team provide clients access to a premier global wealth management and advisory team with a local ‘on the ground’ presence. Since inception, they have enjoyed significant success, both in relation to client numbers and assets held under management and have substantial growth plans in place for the next 5+ years.

Access to Finance Issues

• Barclays continues to support and lend to businesses who meet our lending criteria. In 2012, we provided £44bn in gross new lending to UK households and businesses (2011: £45bn).
• Barclays supported 112,000 start ups in 2012 and Barclays business has 653,000 active business customers at end-march, up 4% on March 2012.
• One aspect of Barclays’ support for business is the Credit Appeals Process, which we apply on a UK wide basis. Last year, the success rate of appeals was 39% industry wide, and 30% in the case of Barclays. While these successful appeals are often a result of new information being provided by the customer, we have focussed on creating as effective a decision making process as possible for the initial application.
• At the heart of this process is a ‘one for yes, two for no’ mechanism where any application declined in the initial assessment is subject to further consideration from another colleague. We aim to ensure that we lend to all applicants who meet our responsible lending criteria.
• We have also just agreed with the wider industry, through the BBA, a promotional programme to enhance awareness of the appeals process.
• We believe it is equally important that businesses are aware of the range of funding options available to them. Access to finance could be greatly enhanced if businesses were fully aware of the differing roles of bank and non-bank finance, and the particular value of equity finance as a means of funding development and start up risks. If a company is declined for a traditional loan, it may be that finance from alternative sources could offer a more appropriate means of meeting their needs. 
• In the case of Barclays, we remain committed to enhancing access to finance, through a thorough initial application process, an effective system of appeals, and by encouraging businesses to consider the wide range of funding sources available to them.
• This process is applied consistently on a UK basis, including Northern Ireland.

Conclusion

Barclays has continued to invest and expand its business in Northern Ireland throughout the recession. We offer a full service to our customers in Northern Ireland, who are at no disadvantage to our customers in the rest of the UK.

The new flagship store is a demonstration of our commitment to Northern Ireland and ensures that our customers are best served both in branch and via other means such as the Post Office network.

Barclays is committed to a branch network that reflects the needs of our customers.

September 2013