Barclaycard Payments

Barclaycard Payments is the card acceptance business of Barclays, which launched Barclaycard in 1966. Merchants contract with Barclays Bank PLC, a bank authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (register number 122702), and the company says more than 160,000 UK businesses use it. In April 2025 Barclays agreed a long-term partnership with Brookfield to turn the unit into a standalone company: Barclays is putting in about £400 million, Brookfield may later take roughly 80%, and the Barclaycard Payments name stays.

For face-to-face sales there are three devices aimed at smaller firms: the pocket-sized Smartpay Anywhere reader (£29 plus VAT, no contract), the Barclaycard Flex terminal (£15 plus VAT a month over 18 months) and the Smartpay Touch till (£29 plus VAT a month over 12 months). Businesses with under £100,000 a year in card takings pay 1.6% per transaction, and bigger ones are priced individually. Funds usually arrive within one to two working days, or the next day if the sale is taken before the 7pm or 9pm cut-off.

Online, the old ePDQ gateway, also sold as Smartpay Checkout, was switched off on 31 March 2026. Its replacement for small and mid-sized merchants, Smartpay Fuse, was built with Visa's Cybersource and takes Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, American Express, Discover and Diners cards, plus Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and Click to Pay. UnionPay runs under the same merchant ID as Visa and Mastercard. Shoppers can pay in more than 100 currencies, with settlement in sterling, euros or US dollars, and terminals can offer dynamic currency conversion.

Under the Brookfield deal it stays the sole card acceptance provider to Barclays' business clients for at least ten years, and its offer is built for UK-based merchants. New accounts may be put on deferred settlement during their first year, and online gateway pricing is quoted rather than published.