Barclays IT hub’s 40th milestone
BARCLAYS is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its IT base at Radbroke Hall, near Knutsford, Cheshire.
The Grade II-listed former family home, set in Cheshire parkland, became
the bank’s first campus site in October 1972. In the following three years head office functions moved into the hall and surrounding offices.
Initially, the site took on 1,400 jobs, which included 400 staff moving from London, plus up to 300 from other parts of the country. A further 750 people were recruited locally, giving the local economy a major fillip.
Today, despite the increase in the bank’s global footprint and the rise in popularity for financial services businesses to offshore certain functions, Radbroke Hall remains a key site, and employs more than 2,500 people.
Staff there are involved in managing IT services and implementing new and developed IT systems to support core business functions such as the UK ATM network, branch accounts, and the bank’s multi-billion pound payments systems.
Recent innovations to come out of Radbroke Hall include Barclays’ new mobile payment service called Pingit. The new technology is transforming the way payments are made and has now been downloaded by more than 1.2 million customers in the UK, since its launch seven months ago.
Graham Bastin, head of infrastructure, said: “Radbroke Hall is our lead technology centre in the UK, indeed the largest globally at Barclays.
“As a major employer, we have a responsibility to the local community and with other regional companies, we want to establish sustainable ways to promote technology across the North West. I want to create an IT ecosystem in the area, working in partnership with schools, regional universities and other IT leaders to create a regional talent pool that we can all benefit from and stem the traditional migration of IT talent to the South East.
“The 40th anniversary is an excellent opportunity to celebrate the heritage of this site but more importantly it is about the future and developing Radbroke Hall as a centre of IT excellence staging pioneering events where innovation can flourish and IT solutions are developed which transform the way we do businesses for our customers and colleagues.”
The Grade II-listed former family home, set in Cheshire parkland, became
the bank’s first campus site in October 1972. In the following three years head office functions moved into the hall and surrounding offices.
Initially, the site took on 1,400 jobs, which included 400 staff moving from London, plus up to 300 from other parts of the country. A further 750 people were recruited locally, giving the local economy a major fillip.
Today, despite the increase in the bank’s global footprint and the rise in popularity for financial services businesses to offshore certain functions, Radbroke Hall remains a key site, and employs more than 2,500 people.
Staff there are involved in managing IT services and implementing new and developed IT systems to support core business functions such as the UK ATM network, branch accounts, and the bank’s multi-billion pound payments systems.
Recent innovations to come out of Radbroke Hall include Barclays’ new mobile payment service called Pingit. The new technology is transforming the way payments are made and has now been downloaded by more than 1.2 million customers in the UK, since its launch seven months ago.
Graham Bastin, head of infrastructure, said: “Radbroke Hall is our lead technology centre in the UK, indeed the largest globally at Barclays.
“As a major employer, we have a responsibility to the local community and with other regional companies, we want to establish sustainable ways to promote technology across the North West. I want to create an IT ecosystem in the area, working in partnership with schools, regional universities and other IT leaders to create a regional talent pool that we can all benefit from and stem the traditional migration of IT talent to the South East.
“The 40th anniversary is an excellent opportunity to celebrate the heritage of this site but more importantly it is about the future and developing Radbroke Hall as a centre of IT excellence staging pioneering events where innovation can flourish and IT solutions are developed which transform the way we do businesses for our customers and colleagues.”
