Small business payment solutions are becoming increasingly important as merchants look for simpler ways to accept payments, manage expenses, and access banking services. Barclaycard Payments is strengthening its focus on this market with the appointment of Colin O’Flaherty as Managing Director, Head of Small Business.
O’Flaherty brings nearly 20 years of experience across payments, card services, loyalty, and business development. His appointment comes as Barclaycard works to expand its Unified Payments strategy, bringing payment acceptance, commercial cards, banking, lending, and other services together for its growing portfolio of small business customers.
- Colin O’Flaherty joins Barclaycard Payments from American Express as Managing Director, Head of Small Business
- O’Flaherty brings almost 20 years’ experience in payments, card services, business development and customer rewards to the role
- Appointment comes at an integral moment for the UK’s largest payments provider as it focuses on making it easier, faster and more rewarding for its small business customers to pay and get paid
- Reporting to CEO, Rob Cameron, O’Flaherty will be key to delivering Barclaycard’s Unified Payments strategy to small businesses
Barclaycard Payments has announced the appointment of Colin O’Flaherty to head up its growing small business customer offering. He will take up the newly created position of Managing Director, Head of Small Business, and will play an integral part in scaling the businesses and accelerating the alignment of Payments across the wider Bank.
O’Flaherty joins in September from American Express, where since 2004, he has held a number of senior leadership roles, most recently as General Manager for Commercial Services covering the UK, Russia and Central Eastern Europe.
With almost 20 years’ experience in payments, card services, loyalty and business development, O’Flaherty brings a truly global outlook of the payments landscape, having conducted business in more than 50 countries.
Barclaycard Expands Its Unified Payments Strategy
Reporting to CEO, Rob Cameron, O’Flaherty will take a seat on the business’ leadership team and will assume overall responsibility for Barclaycard Payments’ growing portfolio of 350k Small Business customers. He will ensure these clients receive maximum value from Barclaycard’s investment in its Unified Payments offering; from accepting payments in-store, online or on the go and making payments with its award-winning credit cards, in addition to providing access to comprehensive banking and lending services from Barclays UK, being a partner of growth to our business customers.
Small Businesses Look for Simpler Payment Solutions
Small businesses are looking for simplicity and faster and easier ways to pay and get paid. Barclaycard Small Business offers flexible products and services alongside new business tools, for example through software vendors such as Big Commerce, and better rewards such as its new market-leading, 1% cashback card launched in April. The team has also been named Best Business Card Provider by Business Moneyfacts for eight years running*.
Supporting the Payment Needs of Small Businesses
Rob Cameron, CEO of Barclaycard Payments, said: “Small businesses underpin the UK economy and it’s critical Barclaycard provides them with payment solutions to support their needs and those of their customers. As their payment requirements evolve so too have our products and services, which now include partner solutions like Big Commerce, to help them sell online, and rewarding commercial card offerings like our new 1% cashback credit card.
“Colin’s expertise and global leadership capabilities will be invaluable to ensure we continue to make it easier, faster and more rewarding for small businesses to pay and get paid.”
Colin O’Flaherty added: “Barclaycard Payments is uniquely positioned to offer end-to-end payments and banking services to help small businesses achieve their ambitions. I’m delighted to be joining the company at this pivotal time for small businesses and the opportunity for continued growth and innovation presents an exciting challenge.”
O’Flaherty studied at Trinity College Dublin where he gained a First Class honours degree in Economics in addition to completing several executive education programmes at Harvard Business School and The University of Oxford.
Earlier in his career, O’Flaherty also worked as a Business Analyst for McKinsey & Company for a number of years.
The appointment of O’Flaherty reflects Barclaycard Payments’ growing emphasis on serving small businesses with a broader combination of payments and banking capabilities. Bringing together in-store, online, and mobile payment acceptance with commercial cards, banking services, lending, and business tools could make it easier for merchants to manage their financial needs through fewer providers.
As small businesses increasingly expect convenient and integrated financial services, small business payment solutions can become an important source of differentiation for payment providers. Barclaycard’s Unified Payments strategy is designed to address that demand while supporting businesses as their payment requirements evolve. O’Flaherty’s experience across commercial payments and card services will help guide that effort as Barclaycard continues developing its small business offering.
