Reuters says that Barclays is looking at its payment businesses and has hired consultants to look at choices in areas like card issuing and merchant services.
Reuters says that sources say the British bank could grow in some payment areas or combine them with other players through a merger or joint venture.
It has already hired at least one big consulting company and could hire more for the review, which is just getting started and may not lead to any changes.
A Barclays spokesperson tells Reuters that “growing our global payments business is a priority for us”.
This year, Banco Sabadell sold an 80% stake in its payments business Paycomet to Nexi for €280 million and signed a 10-year exclusive distribution deal with the Italian company.
