Barclaycard Payments Appoints CPO Following Year of Growth

Barclaycard Payments has made a new addition to its leadership team. 

Caroline Smith has been appointed the banks’ Chief People Officer, as part of efforts to develop its people strategy and ensure its workforce has the people and talent strategies in place to ensure it remains competitive in a rapidly changing sector.

The wider Barclays Group has been preparing its workforce for advancements in AI, with plans to increase investment in its staff learning and development initiatives, while Barclaycard Payments has seen significant growth following its strategic partnership with Brookfield Asset Management.

HR leadership experience

Caroline joins Barclaycard Payments from a Chief People Officer role at car, home and travel insurer, which she held for more than six years. 

Before that, she held a range of HR leadership positions, such as People Partner Director of Transformation and CIO at Lloyds Bank, SVP of HR Operations and Pearson and Group HR Transformation Director at BT – roles that involved leading significant, technologically-led transformations across global businesses.

She also spent close to eight years at PepsiCo, where she began as HR Director, Change in 2004 and progressed to the European HR Director for R&D, Finance and BIS upon her departure in 2012. 

Leadership changes at Barclaycard Payments

The appointment of Caroline as Chief People Officer follows wider changes to the company’s leadership structure. 

In January, Jason Lalor was announced as the new CEO of Barclaycard Payments, bringing deep experience from the financial services and fintech services – having held leadership positions at companies such as Square and Mastercard. 

Describing his appointment as a “crucial moment,” Jason said he was “proud to have been awarded such an important opportunity, a significant one in our industry. 

“By partnering closely with Barclays and Brookfield we can bring together innovation, scale, a prestigious brand and drive meaningful transformation – creating great outcomes for our customers and people. I am eager to get started and am looking forward to the journey ahead.”

Matt Hammerstein, CEO of Barclays UK Corporate Bank, said of his appointment: “Jason brings exceptional experience and a clear vision for innovation, which will help us deliver even greater value to our clients and partners. 

“This is a pivotal moment for Barclaycard Payments, and I’m confident that under his leadership, we will continue to set the standard for excellence in the industry.”

Transforming Barclay’s payment acceptance business

Barclaycard Payments has seen significant growth over the past year since partnering with Brookfield Asset Management.

Upon the announcement of this partnership, Barclays announced it was investing approximately USD$539.86m in Barclaycard payments, while Brookfield has provided expertise to support the transformation of the business. 

This strategic partnership is helping grow Barclaycard Payments into a standalone entity, and is set to deliver “meaningfully improved financial performance,” for the business, as it helps broaden the range of services offered and enhance the experience for existing and prospective clients, says Barclays. 

Matt says of the partnership: “Finding a partner to support us in transforming our payment acceptance business, in a way that will enable us both to serve our clients’ interests better and pursue a path to releasing value from the business, demonstrates clear execution of our three-year plan to become a simpler, better and more balanced bank.  

“We have a leading position in the UK, but we know that our payments clients are increasingly looking for integrated connectivity, an end-to-end service and tailored technological solutions from their payments providers. Our partnership with Brookfield recognises the opportunity within our business to go beyond the foundations we have built to date.”