Barclaycard US Hires Industry Veteran to Lead Its Thriving Co-Brand Partnership Business

WILMINGTON, Del., March 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Barclaycard US today announced the appointment of Scott A. Young as General Manager, Partnerships. In this role, Mr. Young will be responsible for driving the strategy and profitability of Barclaycard US' thriving Partnership business within the Americas, including leading the Strategic Alliances and Partner Management teams. Mr. Young will report directly to Barclaycard US CEO Lloyd M. Wirshba and join the Barclaycard US Executive Committee.

Mr. Young has more than 17 years of experience in consumer lending and comes with a proven track record of developing and managing credit card partnerships. He joins Barclaycard US from GE Consumer Finance were he most recently served as president and chief executive officer of its Personal Finance business. His responsibilities there included managing the agent bank, affinity and direct to consumer credit card programs, as well as several lending partnerships with high-profile retailers. In addition, he managed non-card consumer lending products including home, personal, auto and student loans, as well as a savings product. Prior to GE, Mr. Young spent 12 years at MBNA (now Bank of America), where he held positions in marketing, business development, operations and risk and managed the Wachovia credit card partnership, one of MBNA's largest partnership portfolios at the time.

"The significant growth of Barclaycard US has been fueled by a successful co-branded business strategy, innovative partner programs and a focus on the satisfaction of partners and cardholders," said Wirshba. "I'm confident that Scott's industry expertise and experience in running successful partner programs will be leveraged to ensure that Barclaycard US partner programs continue to be the foundation of our business in the future.

"Barclaycard US is an extraordinary organization with its growing portfolio of distinguished name brand partners," said Mr. Young. "Its willingness to work closely with partners, customize unique programs and create effective, new solutions is what differentiates Barclaycard US from other issuers."

Barclaycard US currently has more than $6 billion in receivables, over 4 million accounts and over 60 co-branded partnerships.

About Barclays PLC

Barclays PLC is a major global financial services provider engaged in retail and commercial banking, credit cards, investment banking, wealth management and investment management services. It is one of the largest financial services companies in the world by market capitalization. With over 300 years of history and expertise in banking, Barclays operates in over 50 countries and employs over 135,000 people. Barclays moves, lends, invests and protects money for over 27 million customers and clients worldwide. For further information about Barclays, please visit our website http://www.barclays.com.

Headquartered in Wilmington, DE, Barclaycard US has more than 60 partnerships with some of the country's most successful travel, entertainment, retail and financial institutions including US Airways, Lufthansa, Barnes & Noble, Best Western, BJ's Wholesale Club, Travelocity and Carnival Cruise Lines. The company employs more than 1,100 associates, and was named a Top Employer in Delaware in 2007. For more information please visit http://www.barclaycardus.com.