Barclays

Banking on Kindness: Barclays Bosses Chip In to Beat COVID and Tech Tantrums!

Barclays execs donate a slice of salary for charity while tech troubles brew! Is the skyscraper era over?

The pandemic may have turned the world upside down, but Barclays executives are stepping in to turn it right again. In a generous move, top bosses at Barclays have decided to donate a staggering one-third of their fixed salary over the next six months. This philanthropic effort is aimed at kickstarting a £100 million aid package to tackle the impacts of COVID-19 on communities. It's a spectacular display of corporate compassion, proving that even bankers can have big hearts.

However, just when you think Barclays is on a philanthropic high, a spanner gets thrown into the works. Hundreds of users took to social media to report outages in the online banking system, grounding transactions to a halt. Oops! This glitch followed a planned maintenance event and has left many customers grumbling while waiting for their banking services to resume. It seems the bank's generosity is shadowed by some technological hiccups – isn't that just classic 2021?

In a surprising turn, Barclays CEO Jes Staley has commented on the potential ‘end of the skyscraper era.’ With the COVID-19 pandemic reshaping how banks operate, he suggests that the traditional office environment with towering buildings may be a thing of the past. This shift implies that the way employees engage with their work might change dramatically, leaving many to ponder whether their desk at the office will become a relic of the past.

Adding to the day's busy news cycle, Klarna, a popular buy-now-pay-later service, is in a tiff with Barclays after the latter described their financial service as ‘irresponsible.’ Klarna’s UK executive has branded these statements as “mind-boggling,” highlighting simmering tensions in the financial tech world. With traditional banking and fintech firms clashing like boxers in the ring, who knows what the next round will bring?

On a lighter note, did you know that Barclays was founded in 1690? That’s over 330 years of banking history. Talk about old-school! And while we're at it, it seems that the number of people working remotely has shot up – according to reports, nearly 50% of the UK workforce is now working from home. Perhaps this means more morning coffee breaks in pajamas rather than in a towering skyscraper!