Barclays strengthened its UK corporate payments business through improvements to the infrastructure and digital connections underpinning everyday treasury operations. Its work focused on reducing friction and making payments easier to manage, supported by richer data and more resilient execution.
Domestic payment processing was a key area of focus, given Barclays role in the UK. Enhanced payment data capabilities were introduced for CHAPS, the UK’s high-value sterling payment system, and changes were made to rolling-limit arrangements for Bacs, which supports bulk payments and collections, reducing the number of referrals triggered by payment-limit breaches. These enhancements addressed practical sources of processing friction while strengthening the controls behind corporate payment flows.
This recognition reflects our focus on delivering for clients, bringing together the expertise and capabilities they need to support their ambitions
Greg Passeri
“This recognition reflects the strength of our GTB franchise in the UK and the colleagues behind it,” says Greg Passeri, global head of transaction banking. “It also reflects our focus on delivering for clients, bringing together the expertise and capabilities they need to support their ambitions.”
Alongside these changes, Barclays expanded adoption of File Gateway, its service connecting corporate systems directly to the bank for automated payment initiation, reporting and reconciliation. It migrated clients onto infrastructure supporting ISO 20022. Barclays also made helping its large companies prepare for messaging changes a key initiative, achieved through implementation support, message validation and end-to-end testing. This work helped deliver improvements across payment automation and straight through process in addition to downstream reconciliation.
Processing 18% of UK CHAPS volumes in 2025, and achieving 16% growth in Faster Payments volumes, demonstrates the scale and momentum Barclays brings to clients across the UK
Cat Moore
To bring this to life, a mandate from an international travel and leisure group illustrated how these capabilities could support broader treasury reorganisation. Selected as the group’s global sterling banking partner, Barclays supported a centralised in-house banking structure in London, enabling payments and collections on behalf of group entities. It implemented arrangements to concentrate sterling cash and direct file connectivity through Swift FileAct, supporting the client’s migration to SAP S/4HANA enterprise software and readiness for structured payment messaging. The programme rationalised accounts, reduced banking complexity and improved visibility across payments and liquidity.
Cat Moore, global head of payments, adds: “Processing 18% of UK CHAPS volumes in 2025, and achieving 16% growth in Faster Payments volumes, demonstrates the scale and momentum Barclays brings to clients across the UK.”
