Barclays 2012 Annual Report Download - page 21

Barclaycard, the eighth largest payment business in the world, provides
the Group with exposure to the fast growing global payments industry
and is an important source of new relationships to Barclays for both
individual and business customers.
Barclaycard serves 29 million retail and business customers across the
world, including the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, South
Africa through Absa Card and Norway, Sweden and Denmark through
the EnterCard joint venture.
Barclaycard is investing in core consumer cards issuing to gain share
in all markets, rebalancing towards high-return business payments
and continuing to lead in payment innovation to meet evolving
customer needs.
Barclaycard received numerous awards in 2012, including the
Moneyfacts: Best Card Provider 2012 award in the UK and Forrester
Voice of the Customer award in the US.
Our customers
Barclaycard has a heritage of innovation, starting from the launch
of the first credit card in the UK in 1966. Since 2011, Barclaycard has
launched several new products to meet evolving customer needs,
including Freedom and Cashback consumer cards in the UK, Google
Adwords for UK SMEs, Barclaycard Plus for online consumer spending
in Germany and the world’s first social media credit card, Barclaycard
Ring in the US.
Digital payments are a major part of our innovation and in 2012
we enabled over 750,000 mobile phones to make payments (using
PayTag) across three countries and helped increase contactless
transactions by over 250% year on year in the UK.
Our colleague, conduct and citizenship initiatives
Barclaycard continues to review policies and practices to identify and
address those that are not simple, transparent and market-leading.
In 2012, we provided £2.8bn of net new lending, retained first place in
Brand Consideration amongst UK consumer cards and supported over
35% of our colleagues to engage in fundraising and 65% of colleagues
to participate in volunteering.
Our 2012 performance
2012 2011 2010
Income (£m) 4,170 4,095 4,024
Adjusted profit before tax 1,506 1,208 791
Adjusted ROE (%) 22.1 17.4 12.5
Loan loss rate (bps) 282 391 570
Loans and advances
to customers (£bn) 32.9 30.1 26.6
Customers (m) 28.8 22.6 21.7
Despite adverse economic conditions, Barclaycard maintained its
track record of delivering strong financial performance with income
up 2%, a 22% reduction in credit impairment charges and adjusted
return on equity rising to 22%. A £420m charge for the cost of PPI
redress was incurred.
Barclaycard continues to grow the UK and international businesses,
with strong organic growth and acquisitions, including Edcon, in
2012. This resulted in a 27% increase in customers and a 10%
increase in payments processed to £240bn.
For more detailed financial information
please see pages 197-225
Our priorities for 2013
 Deliver leading and innovative products to our retail customers
and business clients that help them achieve their ambitions –
in the right way.
 Expand payment acceptance and commercial payments in Europe
and consolidate to a single card platform for continental Europe.
 Attract, develop and retain colleagues of the highest calibre
and integrity.
 Continue to have a positive impact in local communities by
creating sustainable relationships and using the skills of the
business and colleagues to support our local communities.
 Focus on the way we do business to ensure that our products
and services are industry leading in transparency.
We are a leading international payments
business that serves both consumers and
business clients.
Contribution to total income
£4,170m
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