Barclays and PayPal Joining Forces

Barclays and PayPal announced a partnership whereby their US and UK customers (especially SMEs) will be able to access new payment features. These services are meant to make it easier for them to use banking products within the digital wallet, and conversely. A way for PayPal to lead their partnership strategy even further.

Barclays and PayPal are intending to facilitate the payment step for their customers through enabling management of their PayPal account via Barclays’ digital channels, and as well as using the UK institution’s banking products within their PayPal digital wallet.

For instance, these customers will be able to add Barclays payment cards to their PayPal wallet and automatically update them when they reach their expiry date. Card images will also be displayed in their PayPal wallet so they can easily choose their preferred payment method. Regarding P2P payments, Barclays would be planning to set a link between Pingit and PayPal. Yet another considered feature: US Barclays customers could be able to redeem Barclays reward points at PayPal merchants.

Also, British SMEs holding PayPal and Barclays accounts will enjoy extra features: on the spot balance consultation, recent transactions or even PayPal sales from their Barclays SmartBusiness Dashboard.

Comments – Strategic digital partnerships for the sake of consumers

Step by step, PayPal is gaining grounds and has become an inescapable digital payment player, with services for all. In Q1 2018, this group reported $49 billion in payment volume (+52% compared to 2017) and recorded roughly 8 million new active users. This considered, their partnership with Barclays should enable both companies to rely on their respective data analytics capabilities and skills in managing customers’ day-to-day financial life.

PayPal stresses their ability to stand out as a partner for banking groups. Their agreement encompasses ambitious prospects and highlights the way they see the Open-Banking trend, placing them as an unavoidable player for all payment contexts.

Besides, PayPal will further be challenging industry Behemoths such as Visa and Mastercard, as they recently announced they were joining forces to design a single “combo” payment button (merging Checkout and Masterpass).