Acquisition

Barclays PLC
31 January 2003

                                                                 31 January 2003

BARCLAYS BANK ACQUIRES UK BUSINESS OF CHARLES SCHWAB EUROPE


Barclays PLC today, 31 January 2003, announces that it has acquired Charles
Schwab  Europe, 'CSE'.  The acquisition brings together Barclays Stockbrokers,
the UK's largest retail stockbroker, with CSE, an award winning execution-only
broker, to create the leading market player in UK retail broking.  The unaudited
net tangible assets of CSE at the end of December 2002 amounted to £17m.

The CSE business has a client base of more than 150,000 accounts, and an award
winning website.  The business will be integrated with Barclays Stockbrokers,
part of Barclays Private Clients, a process expected to take between six and
nine months.  The combined business will have over 500,000 execution-only client
accounts.

During integration the services provided by CSE and Barclays Stockbrokers will
remain largely unchanged in the interests of maximising service continuity for
customers.  Post integration the objective is to leverage the complementary
strengths of the two businesses, bringing together Barclays Stockbrokers'
independent research and overseas dealing capabilities with CSE's stockbroker
service, which is mainly distributed through the on-line channel.

Barclays Stockbrokers proposes to consolidate the two operations at its sites in
Glasgow and Peterborough.  Once integrated, it is expected that the CSE sites in
Birmingham and Milton Keynes will close.  It is anticipated that closure will
take place during the second half of 2003.

Commenting, Bob Hunter, Chief Executive, Barclays Private Clients, said.  
'Today's acquisition of Charles Schwab Europe furthers our strategic ambition of
delivering world-class investment at great value.  By combining the UK's largest
stockbroker with the player offering the best on-line service in the country we
will expand the breadth and quality of investment services that we can offer the
customers of both organisations.  At the same time we expect to achieve
significant efficiency gains.'

William Atwell, Executive Vice President, Schwab International, said.  'We're
proud of what we have achieved since first establishing our presence in the
United Kingdom in 1992.  We are one of the UK's leading execution-only brokers
and have won numerous accolades for our website and our customer service.'

'But we cannot ignore the fact that we are operating in a very difficult
market.  As we looked to the future it became clear that we could not achieve
our market share goals in the UK without an acquisition or a significant
investment in the expansion of our pound sterling services to a fuller offering
integrated with banking.  Ultimately we reached the difficult conclusion that
such an investment did not make sense for our firm at this time.  However, in
line with our corporate strategy, we will continue seeking to aggressively grow
our US dollar business in the UK and elsewhere.'

'In Barclays I am confident we have found the best new home for our pound
sterling customers: a company that shares our passion for customer service and
that will provide investors with the rich array of banking and investing
services they deserve. We'll work closely with Barclays Stockbrokers to ensure
the transition is as seamless as possible for customers.'


                                    - Ends -

Contacts:


Barclays:
Hilary McVitty, Head of Public Relations Barclays Private Clients
Tel: office 020 7699 2674/ mobile [phone]

Andrew McDougall, Public Relations Manager, Tel: [phone]

Out of hours pager: 07659 590 891

Charles Schwab Europe:

Rebecca Mayo, Lansons Communications, Tel office, 0207 294 3646/mobile, 
07974 177 160

Glen Mathison, Vice President, Public Relations: Tel: office, 001 415 636 5448/
mobile, 001 415 699 0003


Notes to Editors:


Barclays Stockbrokers Limited

•         There are more than 100 suppliers of retail stockbroking in the UK
of which  Barclays Stockbrokers is the largest measured  by total trades on the
London Stock Exchange (source:  Compeer).

•         Barclays Stockbrokers has more than 300,000 execution-only
customers.

•         Barclays Stockbrokers offers nominee clients, free access to
research from in-house analysts as well as leading independent investment banks.

•         In 2002, it launched an alert service for clients when a share
recommendation changes. It has recently launched out-of-hours dealing and limit
orders.

•         It has a fund supermarket with 140 funds from 15 leading managers

•         It was the first in the market to launch a 'price improver' service,
which searches the market for the best price and improves the price for clients
in 90% of cases.

•         In 2002 Barclays Stockbrokers won the Best Overseas Share Dealing
award  (Shares Magazine, UK Equity Awards) and was named as the Best Stockbroker
Research Provider in the last Shares Equity Awards.  It was also 'Highly
Commended' in the 2002 Best Share Dealing site award (Incisive Online Finance
Awards)

•         Further information is available from
www.barclays-stockbrokers.co.uk

•         Barclays Stockbrokers is a member firm of the London Stock Exchange
and LIFFE, an Inland Revenue approved Plan Manager and is regulated by the
Financial Services Authority.


Charles Schwab Europe (CSE):

•         CSE was first established in the UK in 1992

•         In 1995 it acquired Sharelink which was re-branded Charles Schwab in
1997

•         In June 1998 CSE launched the first UK online dealing service.

•         CSE was also the first company to offer online self select ISAs in
the UK and is now the leading provider of online self select ISAs.

•         The company offers: dealing services in US and UK shares; and eight
different accounts:

•         Dealing is conducted through a variety of channels: face-to-face,
telephone, 'Touch Tone' and increasingly, the Internet.

•         In March 2002 CSE launched Fund Select, a fund supermarket offering
over 130 funds at discounted rates.

•         CSE is a member firm of the London Stock Exchange and LIFFE, an
Inland Revenue approved Plan Manager and is regulated by the Financial Services
Authority.


Charles Schwab Corporation:

The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCH), through Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
(member SIPC / NYSE), U.S. Trust  Corporation, CyberTrader, Inc. (member SIPC /
NASD) and its other operating subsidiaries, is one of the largest financial
services firms in the U.S. serving 7.8 million active accounts with $846 billion
in client assets through 429 domestic offices, five regional client telephone
service centers and automated telephonic and online channels. The Charles Schwab
& Co., U.S. Trust and CyberTrader web sites can be reached at www.schwab.com,
www.ustrust.com and www.cybertrader.com, respectively.


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange