We seemingly spend all of our time bashing banks these days, me included. 

They’re either slow, unresponsive and ignorant of change, or they’re greedy, arrogant and screwing the economy.

You can’t win.

That’s why my new book was going to be called: “don’t tell my mum I work for a bank … she thinks I’m a piano player in a whorehouse” …

… but that title’s already taken.

Now however, there is some good news.

There is one UK mainstream bank that is leading the pack.

They’re innovating on the high street, in their card operations and in their mainstream banking services.

Which bank?

Barclays.

It’s hard to praise Barclays when they are 1000% tax-evasive, but when you see innovative bank services you have to fez up and applaud.

Why am I so effusive about Barclays?

Because they actually get it.

Barclaycard caught my attention some time ago.

First, there was the major campaign for contactless payments from waterslides to rollercoasters which was an integrated campaign with social media games via facebook and iPhone competitions.

They were the first bank to introduce mobile contactless in the UK, and they’re also running innovative programs around crowdsourcing customer views in the USA with Barclaycard Ring.

But it’s not just the card operations as there was also the Barclays branch of the future in Leicester Square, and more.

Now, there’s Pingit.

I saw the new ad for the first time yesterday:

It immediately made me download the app, and it’s pretty simple although they ask for a lot of upfront security processes which will put off a number of users.

The real power of Pingit is that it is a really simple idea – use Barclays to send mobile payments – and, more than this, that it’s a method of capturing the consumers’ and corporates’ attention.

The reason being that the app sits on your phone with Barclays branding all over it, whether you are a Barclays customer or not.

Simple but brilliant.

And if you don’t believe Barclays innovation strategy is working, here’s an email trail I received recently from an innovative friend:

From: Go Getter, innovator

To: Mrs. Y, Commercial Banking, ABC Bank

Hello Y

I was wondering why your bank reporting on the client account never shows transactions falling on a weekend?  I believe under Faster Payments banks can clear payments during weekends.  It looks like all the weekend transactions show up on the following Monday.

Is this a limitation within your bank or the type of account – and can it be changed?

Many thanks,

GG

From: Mr. X, Commercial Banking, ABC Bank

To: Go Getter, innovator

Dear GG

I work alongside Mrs. Y who passed on your query to me. I have spoken with our super helpful support desk people  this morning who confirmed that even with Faster Payments they only clear the next business working day. They also advised that its not even anything to do with the type of account or their software and therefore cannot be amended. If you have any further questions or require technical assistance in the future then its best to call our super helpful support desk people on 0870 321 5432 (calls cost £85 per minute).

Regards, Mr. X

From: Go Getter, innovator

To: Entrepreneur, CEO

I’ve been thinking about our banking relationship with ABC Bank, and would like to seriously consider changing banking partner.

 ABC do not strike me as interested in innovations for consumers or businesses.  They’re also somewhat insipid.  As an example: what Mr. X is telling me below is unhelpful, because Faster Payments is a 24/7 service and as a consumer I can both send and receive on a weekend – and whilst I followed up immediately, I suspect I won’t hear back from him any time soon.

I get the impression that of all the banks, Barclays are the ones with the most ‘innovation’ in terms of services and applications – they launched the PingIt app very recently, for example, and I also know from dealing with our BACS software suppliers that Barclays tend to do more for small-medium sized businesses.  Both of our competitors are with Barclays, which in itself is interesting – perhaps they have a desire to take on innovative businesses as part of a drive to be the most forward-thinking.

It’s working.

For more on Barclays innovation strategy, read the interview with their COO Shaygan Kheradpir.