Barclaycard Launches the UK’s First Contactless Corporate Card

December 5, 2011

Barclaycard Global Commercial Payments announces that from today, all newly issued Barclaycard corporate cards will be enabled to make contactless transactions. This is the first contactless corporate card in the UK and will give businesses of all sizes greater control to track smaller transactions which are currently made using cash.

Contactless technology allows cardholders to pay for goods of £15 or under by simply holding a contactless-enabled card over a reader. There is no need to enter a PIN or sign for the payment and all transactions will appear on the corporate card statement.

Barclays and Barclaycard have been the leading force behind contactless payments in the UK. Since 2007 they have issued over 14 million contactless debit and credit cards for consumers and put contactless terminals in more than 55,000 retail outlets. In May this year Barclaycard, in conjunction with Orange, launched the UK’s first contactless mobile phone.

Dennis Bauer, Managing Director of Barclaycard Global Commercial Payments, said: “As the first corporate card issuer to offer contactless, this is another major step toward Barclaycard becoming the UK’s leading business payments provider. We want to give commercial cardholders the best payments experience possible and will continue to invest in cutting-edge technology to make businesses more efficient and commercial payments easier.

“Contactless will enable businesses to track smaller transactions which are currently often made with cash. This gives businesses greater control over expenses as well as providing corporate customers an efficient and secure payment experience at the point of purchase. We hope we’re making our customers lives just that little bit easier.”

Global Commercial Payments is part of Barclaycard’s Global Business Solutions division, which serves 145,000 businesses and Government agencies in the UK alone. It recently won ‘Best Payments System Initiative’ at the 2011 Banking Technology Awards for its Barclaycard Spend Management platform, which helps businesses simplify card and expense management.

Notes to Editors: About contactless

Contactless payment enables customers to make a purchase of £15 or less without the need to sign or enter a pin. Barclays and Barclaycard are leading the way in introducing contactless and there are now over 15.3 million contactless-enabled Barclaycards and Barclays debit cards, helping retailers reduce queuing and cut the cost of card transactions. In line with its history of providing customers with innovative payment forms, Barclaycard launched the UK’s first contactless mobile phone, in partnership with Orange, in May 2011.

Barclays and Barclaycard are the leading providers of contactless terminals in the UK and users can make contactless payments at over 56,000 stores across the UK including Prêt A Manger, Subway and EAT.

To find out more about Contactless payment, visit www.barclaycard.co.uk/contactless.

Barclaycard, part of Barclays Retail and Business Banking, is a leading global payment business which helps consumers, retailers and businesses to make and accept payments flexibly, and to access short-term credit when needed.

The company is one of the pioneers of new forms of payments and is at the forefront of developing viable contactless and mobile payment schemes for today and cutting edge forms of payment for the future. It also issues credit and charge cards to corporate customers and the UK Government. Barclaycard partners with a wide range of organisations across the globe to offer their customers or members payment options and credit.

In addition to the UK, Barclaycard operates in the United States, Europe and Africa.

Key facts published in August 2011;

– number of UK customers: 12.0m

– number of International customers: 10.2m

– number of retailer/merchant relationships: 90,000