Barclays wins Hitwise Top 10 Award 2006

Barclays has won a Hitwise Top 10 Award for 2006, ranking third and sixth in the Business and Finance - Banks and Financial Institutions category, based on the market share of UK visits it has received throughout 2006. The Hitwise UK Online Performance Awards celebrates the most successful UK websites in 50 key selected industries. As Hitwise reports on the anonymous online usage and search behaviour of more than 8.43 million UK internet users - the largest online sample of its kind - the unique awards programme recognises excellence in online performance through public popularity.

Barclays operates in over 50 countries and offers UK banking customers a range of financial products - including current accounts, secured and unsecured loans and credit cards.*

In addition, Barclays offers a range of protection against fraud to its online banking customers - such as anti-virus software, online security and an online banking guarantee - and this has played a large part in Barclays online success with its financial consumers. Barclays also provides first-rate Premier Banking and Business Banking services.

Barclays' site "www.personal.barclays.co.uk" was rated third while "www.barclays.co.uk" came in at sixth place in the Business and Finance - Banks and Financial Institutions category.

Commenting on the award, Julian Brewer, Head of Online Marketing and Content at Barclays, said:

“This is fantastic achievement for us, particularly since there is such strong online competition in our Business sector. Here at Barclays, we have worked hard to ensure our website is as customer friendly as possible and this award shows that we're heading in the right direction.”

Hitwise UK stated;

"The online success of Barclays is a fantastic achievement. As Hitwise measures over 800,000 websites, being one of the most popular websites visited by UK Internet users demonstrates the strength of Barclay's online marketing success."
*(subject to application and status)

About Barclays Personal:
Barclays PLC is a major global financial services provider who engages in retail and commercial banking, credit cards, investment banking, wealth management and investment management services. Barclays is one of the largest companies in the world by market capitalisation.

Operating in over 50 countries and employing 123,000 people, Barclays move, lend, invest and protect money for over 27 million customers and clients worldwide. With over 300 years of history and expertise in banking, Barclays PLC has six major businesses - Barclays UK Banking, Barclaycard, Barclays International Retail, Barclays Capital, Barclays Global Investors and Barclays Wealth.

Barclays PR Contact:
Andrew McDougall
Retail PR Manager
1 Churchill Place
London
E14 5HP
+44 (0) 20 7116 6159
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7116 7540
andrew.mcdougall@barclays.com
http://www.barclays.co.uk/