Barclays and Smart Pension to offer easy access to pensions platform

By Megha Bhattacharya

Barclays announced a partnership with UK-based online pension provider, Smart Pension. The bank will now be able to introduce its business banking clients to Smart Pension via the Barclays website. Smart Pension offers an online portal for both the employer and employee so that individuals can easily manage their participation in the scheme. The portal can be integrated with other administrative programmes such as payroll, admin, reporting and compliance capabilities.

Jamie Fiveash, UK CEO at Smart Pension, said, “This is an important milestone for us as a business. Not only do we get to offer Barclays customers a simple pension solution to ensure small businesses meet their auto-enrolment obligations, but we also have the privilege of calling them our partner through the strategic investment made. We are excited to see what the future holds for both of us but more importantly, we are excited to deliver the opportunity of a successful retirement for all participants.”

Recently, Barclays Corporate Banking announced that it has teamed up with CGI for implementing the CGI Trade360 platform in a bid to offer an end-to-end global trade finance solution for Barclays clients in the UK and around the world.

Hannah Bernard, Head of Barclays Business Banking, said, “For many busy small business owners, getting to grips with pensions can seem daunting, particularly when they’re juggling a long list of competing business priorities. We hope this partnership with Smart Pension will save many of our customers’ time, and take the stress out of the process. Offering a great pension scheme can help attract and retain talent, and support the growth of your business.”

Barclays Business Banking also partnered with specialist asset finance provider, Propel in a bid to offer equipment and vehicle finance via an online platform to one million of their small and medium-sized (SME) customers. The Bank’s network of relationship managers will connect directly to Propel’s online portal, Propeller, thus allowing businesses to make equipment purchases up to £2 million.