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Barclays launches Internet payment system

LONDON: British banking group Barclays Plc said on Sunday it would launch a range of Internet-based services in the next few weeks to bolster its position as the established bank with the biggest Internet presence.

Barclays, which announced last month it planned to have a million Internet customers by the end of 2000, said it would launch Britain's first "purchase to payment" e-procurement system.

The service, to be known as B2B.com, would provide a direct channel for the sale and delivery of business and financial services.

Barclays said it had chosen Andersen Consulting and Oracle to help it build Barclays B2B.com, which would be targeted at businesses with a turnover of between five million pounds and 250 million pounds ($393.5 million).

"Through the formation of the powerful alliances we plan to bring all the essential services a business may require into one portal - from the purchase of stationary and raw materials through the administration of human resources," Barclays Corporate Banking chief executive Chris Lendrum said in a statement.

Barclays did not say how much it would spend to build the system and has not given an overall investment figure for its e-commerce measures.

Barclays said those companies with a turnover of over 50 million pounds who use the e-procurement service may save five to 10 percent of their non-production related spending.

"Buyers will be encouraged to join forces, where they share common requirements, to reduce costs still further," it said, adding that a supplier could increase its customer base by 200 to 300 percent by using an electronic trading network like this.

Barclays has over 600,000 online banking customers, more than any of the other established British banks, but less than the 800,000 customers that use the Internet bank egg that is owned by insurance and pension group Prudential Plc.

Barclays' new chief executive Matthew Barrett said the B2B.com announcement would be the first of a series of announcements about Barclays e-business strategy.-Reuters