Marketing Financial Services Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Marketing Financial Services - Essay Example This paper will deal with in detail the issues and challenges faced by Barclays Bank as well as a clear and well drawn out SWOT analysis of the company. The paper will first provide an overview of the company and will also discuss in detail the reasons for choice of the bank. Overview of Company Barclays Banks has been one of the trusted and well known banks across almost 50 countries. The bank has been able to cater to the markets and provide the customers with excellent banking facilities for over three hundred years. Spread across fifty countries, the company employees around 145,000 employees and services almost 48 million customers worldwide. The company deals with several different activities and services like â€Å"retail banking, credit cards, corporate banking, investment banking, wealth management and investment management services with an extensive international presence in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia† (Barclays Bank, 2011). The bank is made of two main cl usters, i.e. Global Retail Banking and Corporate and Investment Banking and Wealth Management. Each of these clusters has a number of individual business units as well. Another major part of the company is the Group Center. The company is head by Group Chairman Marcus Agius and the Chief Executive is Robert E. Diamond, Jr. The company is headquartered in Churchill Place in London. It however caters to the markets across the world both for its products and services (Barclays Business, 2011). Reasons for Choice Barclay’s Bank has been recognised for its international nature and the bank has built its image across Asia, America, Europe and Africa. The company’s brand name and image that it has created allows it to become a name for every home. Also, Barclay has been extremely successful in marketing itself over the years (Barclays Sustainability, 2011). The bank has developed a strong brand image across the globe. Also, Barclay’s overall strategies and corporate fo cus is also an excellent example to study and analyse the SWOT. Hence this company proves to be an excellent example to study here. Barclay’s Strategy and Principles As in the case of every bank, the main aim of the company is to provide credit to businesses and households, to help improve their growth and jobs. Barclay has also constantly focused on improving its business by diversifying into different areas (Barclays Bank, 2011). A major attempt of the company is to increase its presence in the markets and segments, and this has clearly been achieved by means of innovative products and services for customers across the world (Barclay Card, 2011). All strategies of the company are based on three main aspects i.e. â€Å"Earn, Invest and Grow† (Barclays Bank, 2011). The group’s ambition and the overall commitment have grown the company to become a part of the universal banks. Barclays also has set down four main strategic priorities which include, a) To be able t o build the best bank in UK, accelerated and increased global growth, development of both retail as well as commercial activities across selected countries outside of the United Kingdom and last but not the least operational excellence (Barclays