Case studies
In countries around the world, we have developed products and services, and worked with specialist partners to bring more people into financial inclusion.
Inclusive banking case studies
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We’re working with community development finance institutions (CDFIs) across the UK to support small enterprises that are unable to access mainstream finance.
While we’re committed to promoting financial inclusion, in some circumstances we are unable to support finance requests from small businesses. In such situations we are developing a process where Barclays Local Business Managers refer cases to local CDFIs, who can offer advice on support to entrepreneurs on the route into mainstream banking.
Our long-standing partnership with the Community Development Finance Association (CDFA) has continued to develop. In 2009, we joined forces to support the growth and survival of small businesses during the difficult economic climate.
We launched a series of regional events led by Barclays Local Business Managing Director Steve Cooper, giving CDFA members and other stakeholders an opportunity to discuss the challenges faced by small businesses. The series culminated in a national roundtable in London, attended by key policy and decision makers.
The same year, Barclays also provided grants totalling £150,000 to five UK-based CDFIs supporting small enterprises.
Grants of £30,000 each went to:
• Business Finance Solutions – a not-for-profit initiative providing alternative finance for start-up businesses in Manchester
• Capitalise Business Support – a non-for-profit loan provider helping small, medium and micro businesses and social enterprises in Hastings and Rother
• Fredericks Foundation – a charity providing loans to disadvantaged people across the South of England for business start-up and expansion
• London Rebuilding Society – a finance provider offering home loans to social enterprises in the most socially deprived communities in London
• Key Fund Yorkshire – a social enterprise providing loans to community organisations, charities and social entrepreneurs across Yorkshire and the Humber.
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Barclays Cash Card Account is an entry-level bank account for customers new to banking, offering all the features of a current account without an overdraft facility – limiting the risk of overspending.
The account was developed based on customer and consumer group feedback, to include the option of a debit card and access to online banking for convenient use.
And to ensure the Cash Card Account was promoted in our branches across the UK, raising awareness of the benefits of banking among hard-to-reach potential customers was made part of our incentive scheme for customer-facing colleagues.
In 2009, we commissioned independent research among low-income customers, to better understand their needs and account use habits. We are now sharing the results with UK policy makers and consumer groups to help inform the financial inclusion agenda.
Barclays is also part-funding research with HM Treasury’s Financial Inclusion Taskforce, exploring the concerns and of unbanked people in the UK.
Our provision of the Cash Card Account to bankrupt consumers is supported by leading UK consumer groups, including the Citizens Advice Bureau. Barclays is one of only two banks in the UK providing this service.
Related downloads
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Our ongoing support for community finance organisations in the UK helps vulnerable consumers gain access to affordable credit.
We’re committed to preventing financial exclusion – and have established valuable partnerships with a range of not-for-profit community finance organisations to provide affordable alternatives to high-cost loans from illegal lenders.
In 2009, we announced a new £500,000 package of funding to support third sector lenders in providing affordable alternatives to high-cost lenders and illegal loan sharks.
The package includes:
• £250,000 of funding for the Association of British Credit Unions Limited (ABCUL), to promote long-term growth and sustainable coverage of community finance
• A £250,000 Barclays Community Finance Fund, providing grants of up to £50,000 to credit unions and community development finance institutions.
Barclays is the lead corporate supporter of the UK’s two main trade associations for community finance providers, ABCUL and the Community Development Finance Association (CDFA), and has worked closely with both organisations since 2001.Since 2004, we’ve provided more than £3m to the UK community finance sector, helping vulnerable consumers gain access to affordable credit financial services via local credit unions and community development finance institutions.
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Absa’s exclusive ATM design allows customers to benefit from immediate access to their cash in remote locations.
Absa, majority owned by Barclays, in 2009 created a new type of ATM designed for use in remote locations.
Absa worked with ATM technology company NCR Corporation in the UK to develop the HARP machine – which stands for Handy Amounts in Remote Places – and negotiated a six-month exclusivity agreement, with Absa and Barclays the only banks to offer it.
The HARP machine offers the same functions as a conventional ATM, but requires a fraction of the space, allowing Absa to introduce the units in places where installation had previously been difficult or costly. HARP also enables Absa to bring modern banking services to previously unbanked areas, without having to invest in prohibitively expensive infrastructure.
By December 2009, 188 HARP devices had been installed across South Africa, and 831,905 transactions had taken place using the machines.
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As part of our commitment to financial inclusion, we’re offering basic banking services to prison inmates due for release.
Barclays UK Retail Banking is working with prisoners nearing the end of their sentences, helping them open bank accounts and improve their money management skills as part of a pilot programme.
The scheme to support the reintegration of former prisoners into society was launched in 2008, in partnership with the UK National Association of Reformed Offenders (UNLOCK) – a charity which helps ex-offenders and serving prisoners overcome social and financial exclusion.
In 2009, the programme helped 223 inmates due for release from three prisons in the east of England to open Barclays Cash Card Accounts – overdraft-free entry-level accounts for customers new to financial services. Participants on the programme also benefited from taking part in financial capability workshops.
The same year, Barclays won a prestigious Business in Action award for introducing the Barclays Money Skills training programme to inmates at the Reading Young Offenders Institute in the UK.
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Barclays offers simple bank accounts dedicated to low-income people in developing countries around the world, including Zimbabwe, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Ghana, Kenya and India. Accounts in these countries reach more than 300,000 customers.
