Launch of Web-Based 'Purchase-to-Payment' Services

Barclays PLC
20 March 2000


    BARCLAYS UNVEILS PLANS TO LAUNCH WEB-BASED BUSINESS SERVICES, 
          INCLUDING THE UK'S FIRST SECURE 'PURCHASE-TO-PAYMENT' 
                        E-PROCUREMENT SYSTEM


Barclays PLC announced today that it will be launching in the next few weeks a
range of new Internet-based business services beginning with the UK's first
secure  'purchase-to-payment' e-procurement system.  Barclays, which banks one
in four UK businesses, said its new initiative - called Barclays B2B.com -
will revolutionise the way UK businesses trade with one another, and will
provide a direct channel for the sale and delivery of business and financial
services.

Chris Lendrum, Chief Executive, Barclays Corporate Banking, said: 'Although we
will begin with e-procurement next month, over time we plan to use Barclays
B2B.com to e-enable the delivery of numerous business services.  In addition
to building our own e-business services and capabilities, through the
formation of powerful alliances we plan to bring all the essential services a
business may require into one portal - from the purchase of stationery and raw
materials through to the administration of human resources.'

Barclays has chosen Andersen Consulting and Oracle to help it construct
Barclays B2B.com, which is targeted at businesses with a turnover of between
£5 million and £250 million - one of the bank's traditional heartlands.   
Andersen Consulting's extensive e-commerce expertise has been key in helping
design and create the service while Oracle is providing its market leading
procurement software.   

Barclays B2B.com will be delivered through a personalised business-to-business
portal, which will initially provide the gateway to its e-procurement
offering, and over time expand to provide corporations with one-stop access to
the best of the web's products and services.  In addition to the services
Barclays itself will offer, third party alliances and links to other trading
communities will increase the services available to Barclays portal users.

The bank believes its new venture will position it at the core of trading in 
electronic commerce, a market estimated as growing at the rate of 150 per cent
per annum in Europe and which could be worth as much as $4 trillion in 2004.

Buyers using the Barclays B2B.com e-procurement service will benefit from
lower processing costs, increased management information, better prices and
can more efficiently leverage their buying power.  Barclays estimates that a
business with an annual turnover of over £50 million might save 5 to 10 per
cent of their non-production related spend.  Buyers will be encouraged to join
forces, where they share common requirements, to reduce costs still further.

Suppliers will benefit from access to new customers without the usual customer
recruitment costs and greater operational and administrative efficiency
through the aggregation of orders.  In addition to the cost savings that
'virtual' catalogues allow, Barclays believes a supplier might look to
increase its customer base by a factor of 2 or 3 through the use of its
electronic trading network.

Commenting on today's announcement, Matthew Barrett, Barclays Group Chief
Executive, said: 'Barclays B2B.com is the first of a series of announcements
we plan to make following the outlining of our e-strategy at last month's
annual results.  We plan to continue our pioneering role in the new economy
and you will see us providing a range of e-solutions targeted at different
customer segments over the coming months.'

Barclays has already recruited a number of customers for the Barclays B2B.com
e-procurement service which will begin in April with a national roll-out later
in the year.  

For further information contact:    Chris Tucker
                                    Barclays Corporate Banking PR
                                    Tel: [phone]
                                    e-mail: [e-mail]