Barclays expands EU operations ahead of Brexit

Updated

Barclays is beefing up its corporate banking operations in key EU countries ahead of Brexit as the lender looks for ways to serve clients in Europe.

The British bank has launched a digital corporate banking platform to support “multi-country banking” in Portugal, Spain, France and Ireland.

Germany is also set to join the platform later this year alongside other countries.

While Brexit was not mentioned as a reason for its roll out and expansion, Barclays said that the platform is aimed at clients domiciled in Europe and at “global clients with a presence in Europe”.

The bank said that it will 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”.

Barclays added that clients will benefit from a simple, easy to manage corporate banking service, which “complements” its investment banking and Barclaycard operations.

The expansion of its European operations has been led by David Farrow, head of international corporate banking at Barclays, and will be managed by Andres Baltar, the newly appointed head of Europe for the division.

Mr 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.”

Aside from this latest move, Barclays has chosen Ireland as its main EU hub after Brexit in a move that could potentially double its local employee base by 150 staff.

Other banks – including JP Morgan, Citi, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Nomura, Daiwa and Sumitomo – are preparing for the worst case Brexit scenario, a no deal disorderly withdrawal from the EU in which they lose access to the richest trading bloc in the world.

Advertisement