Barclay's is the third largest bank based on its assets.

It is also the third largest bank as per market capitalization in UK. Barclays was the first bank that launched the credit cards in UK. The four major factors that differentiate Barclays from others are: Culture, rewards, cost and control. The culture at Barclays is value-driven; hence the vision of the management is to integrate the values of the organization with the day to day operations. Thus the values are being followed while hiring, appraising and rewarding the staff. Rewards are another factor that differentiates Barclays as they believe in pay for performance. The company pays competitively the best in order to retain the best talent. The organization has established efficient control systems so that the staff needs to report to the single global head. The bank is focusing on controlling the cost so as to reduce the expenses. This is being attempted by diverting the customers on the alternate channels so that more time can be diverted to the transactions which cannot be made through alternate channels. Another major factor that differentiates Barclays from its competitors is the dedicated workforce. The Bank is having innovative and passionate workforce. 2. The major recent development in the banking industry has been the use of alternate delivery channels which started with the coming up of the ATMs, Internet banking and now mobile banking. People now-a-days do not prefer going to their banks for routine transactions. In a similar way banks do not want that the customers should walk into the branches with their regular transactions. The main reason behind this is the cost that is being spent on the customer service while a customer walks into a bank branch. This cost is reduced significantly when the customer is being settled on an alternate delivery channel. Thus we are now using ATMs for cash withdrawals and various other services. Even the internet banking and mobile banking is being used by the customers to perform the transactions. Thus it is the technology which is helping the banks reduce their cost.

As our mainstay is the investment banking division, here also the technology can play a major role in fulfilling the needs of the customers while making use of alternate channels like mobile and internet. One important division of investment banking i.e. trading of securities is now being done with the online platform only as compared to the earlier methods. Most of the trading is now being done through mobiles, smart phones and through internet service which is being provided by the dealer/broker. However, the bank can go for more innovative technology so that various other divisions of investment banking i.e. asset management and underwriting can also be done using the alternate channels. But before doing so the banks must ensure the security for such transactions.