CDBM Report: External and Demographic Factors for Barclays Bank

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Barclays Bank, a multinational financial institution, focusing on contemporary developments in business and management. The report begins by exploring the external factors influencing the organization, utilizing a PESTLE analysis to examine political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors and their respective impacts. The second part of the report delves into the effects of demographic factors, such as income level, education, age, occupation, family size, and sex, on Barclays' policies and decision-making processes. It evaluates the bank's response to these demographic shifts and identifies areas for improvement. The report emphasizes the importance of adapting to external pressures and internal demographic changes to maintain a competitive edge in the banking industry. The analysis highlights the need for strategic adjustments to address the evolving needs of a diverse customer base and the broader societal context.

Contemporary Development in Business and
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 External factors which influence the organisation and their importance:.............................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
1.1 Effects of demographic factors on policies and decision making of Barclays......................6
2.ii) Evaluation of organisation's response in demographic factors............................................8
2.iii) Areas of improvement for business..................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Management of the company plays the important role in the development of the
company. It helps the company to determine their goals and targets and assign the
responsibilities to the employee’s for their achievement. Management of company also
contributes in controlling the activities of the departments and to provide the solutions regarding
problems at workforce. Here, Barclays is the multinational bank which provides the financial
services in many countries. It provides various offerings like corporate and investment baking,
credit cards and wealth management (Bjorklund, ed., 2013).
In this present report discuss about, external factors which influence the business of Barclays and
their importance to organisation, demographic factors which influence the policies and decision
making of organisation, effectiveness of organisation response and the areas in which the
company is need to improve.
TASK 1
1.1 External factors which influence the organisation and their importance:
There are many external factors which influence the activities of organisation. External
factors are those which are not in control of management of the company. PESTLE analysis
helps in determination of those external factors which affects the company. PESTLE includes:
political, economical, social, technological, legal and environmental analysis. All these factors
named earlier are the external factors which affects the activities of Barclays. PESTLE analysis
of Barclays is described below:

 Political
- Policies of government: Banking industry is need to operate as per the regulations of
government of that country where they are operating their business. Different countries have
their different banking regulations and company is need to comply all regulations as per the
requirements of that country. Since, Barclays is global bank having its branches in many
countries, is required to comply the regulation to operate its activities smoothly. If the
organisation is not sufficient to follow the regulations they have to bear the fines or discontinues
the branch from that country (.Collins, K.D., Gensch, T and Glorius, F., 2014).
- Instability of government: It helps the banking industry to take the benefits of uncertainties of
government. It gives chance to banking industry to focus on improving the sustainability.
Because of instability in government, provides the chance to banks to take the benefits of the
loopholes in government regulations.
 Economic
- Taxation procedure: Taxation policies of the country affects working of Banking industry. It
have both positive and negative effects depends upon the policies. As other financial institutions,
Barclays also get affected by the taxation policies of the country. If the tax laws of the country
are good, less the risk involved in the activities of Barclays.
- Indicators of economy: There are many indicators of the economy which includes interest rates,
loan rates, inflation rates, import & export rates and unemployment. All these factors have major
affects on the activities of banking industry because they are highly related with them. If the
inflation rate is changed then it affects the CRR and SLR rates of banks. Similarly,
unemployment in the economy affects the income of consumer and their borrowing capacity also
which adversely affects the activities of banks. Barclays also have to bear the effects of economy
on their business. It is very necessary for the management of the company to make correlation
with these factors and conduct the activities smoothly (Collins, Gensch and Glorius, 2014).
 Social
- Easy conduct of operations: As per the advancement of the technology and the awareness
between the persons regarding use of electronic systems helps the banks to operate their
activities more smoothly. The more secure process of banks of transferring the funds online
helps the customers and banks to save their time. These are the some social changes which helps
the baking industry to grow in market.

- Change in customers thinking: It helps the banking industry to increase their business.
Customers attitudes are towards banks and they are taking loans from therm for conducting
business which helps the banks to earn the interest and to grow their activities. This change
happen because of the awareness and various offers provided by the government to the
customers like subsidy and interest free loans. This attracts the cut9omers to take the benefits of
the facilities of the bank (.Duffield, 2010).
 Technological
- Issues related to security: There are many issue arise related to security because of the
technology up gradation for conducting banking transactions. The persons are not much belief on
the online transactions and they always tensed about the security. It is always important for the
customers to maintain the security of important information and secure the amount of
transactions. So, it is the duty of the banks to provide the relevant security to the customers
regarding their transactions and provide them timely solutions for their problems. So, the issues
related to security affects the bank transactions (Faille, 2011).
- Increased computer work: In today's world, they customers are more knowledgeable about the
use of computer. So it is important for Barclays to change the mechanisms of dealing as per the
needs of customers. Digital platform are mostly used everywhere because it easy to access and
convenient.
- Up gradation: It is the duty of the banks to monitor the technology up gradation in the industry
makes changes in the mechanisms which are gone obsolete. They always be aware of that and
upgrade themselves in future as per the improvements in technology.
 Legal
- Laws related to consumer protection: It is the duty of the banks to follow all the legal rules
which are provided by the government. It includes the rules regarding consumer protection,
privacy and trade malpractices. If the banks are not focusing on these rules they have to bear the
legal actions regarding to that. Barclays is global bank and the management of this bank has to
give more attention to fulfil all requirements in different countries.
If the banks are not fulfil the legal regulation they have to bear the penalties which damage the
images of the bank. But if the bank is give full attention on consumer protection and the redressel
of the problems of the customers it helps in the growth of the bank and maintaining the image in

mind of customers. It also generates the confidence of the customers on the activities of the bank
and on the safety systems also (.Fischer, 2010.Freund, 2016).
 Environmental
- Protect environment: From the past few years, the society is more concern about the protection
of the environment. If any company not focus on protection of the environment they have to bear
the consequences of it in future. Barclays is the global bank having good image in the society. It
is the duty of the bank to provide funds for the sustainable growth of the environment.
It has the major benefits to the company that increases the value of the bank between society. It
also helps in growth of the bank and branding of image in market.
TASK 2
1.1 Effects of demographic factors on policies and decision making of Barclays
Demographic factors are the features of a population which are expressed statistically,
like age, sex, education level, income level, marital status, occupation, religion, birth rate, death
rate, size of family and average age of marriage. All these factors are highly related to the
banking industry. They play the major role in influencing the policies and decision making of the
banks. So, it is important that whenever the company generates the policies, they have to
consider all the factors and their effects on the working of the banks. In today's world, banks are
using advanced technology in which all the transactions are conducted by using the computers
and online internet facilities (.Green and Bandyopadhyay, 2013). One of the demographic factor
is the education level which affects the working of the bank. If the individuals are not well
educated and don't know about the use of technologies affects the transactions of the bank. So,
from the above discussion it is clear that all the demographic factors are highly related to the
banking industry and affects their decision making processes. Some of the effects of
demographic factors on decision making process and policies of bank are mentioned below:
 Income level: It is one of the important demographic factor which affects the policies of
banks. On the basis of income of the individual, transactions in banks are vary. If the
income of the individual is good then the credit worthiness and borrowing power of the
person is also higher. This will helps the banks to generate more transactions. If the
income of person is low, the policies of the banks are also on the basis of their income.
Low income groups of people have less credit worthiness and borrowing power. So the

number of transactions done by them also very low which affects the policies of banks
for them.
 Education level: Nowadays, banks are using advanced technology to transact the
activities of banks. In this condition the education level of the customers have huge
impact on the policies and decision making process of the company. If the customers are
not well educated and not understand the technologies used by the bank affects their
activities (.Hansen and Lyytinen, 2010). It is also very time consuming for bank staff to
solve the problems of such customers. Old age people are not believe on the online
processes they like to go offline to transact their transactions. They are not using the
facilities provided by the banks like online payment, online transfer of cash, debit cards
etc. So the banks has to adopt the policies according to them to satisfy their needs.
 Age: One of the demographic factor which have both positive and negative impact on the
transactions of bank. There is huge technological gap between the youngsters and the old
age people. It also difficult for them to understand the online processes of banks. Banks
has to adopt the policies as per the age of the customers. They can use the advance
technology with youngsters to transact their processes. But with the old age people,
which don't know about the online procedures they have to adopt different policies.
 Occupation: There are main two types of occupation one is service class and another one
business class (,Karim, 2010). Bank has to adopt the policies according to the occupation
of the customers. For service class customers they opened their savings account. On other
hand for business class customers they have to open the current account because the limit
of current is higher than savings account. It is so because the business class customers
more cash to transact their business.
 Size of family: Bank also provides the facility to open the joint account. If the size of the
family is big then this facility is provided by the bank to open joint account instead of
open separate accounts. This will make the whole process of the banks easy and also for
the big family it is more convenient. Similarly, in small families they have the option to
open separate accounts. So as per the size of the family the banks has to make decisions.
 Sex : The policies of the banks also differs on the basis of the sex of the customers. The
banks has the policy to provide more facilities to the female customers. On other hand, In
case of male customers the policies of banks are different. This difference is because the

nature of the females are to do more savings which provides the banks to more reserves
to use by them for further aspects.
2.ii) Evaluation of organisation's response in demographic factors
Demography is a separate discipline which focuses on collecting and evaluating the
statistics on the population of the target market. The dynamic nature of the demographic segment
forces an organisation to collect these stats on a timely basis. The focus is on collection of data
and furthermore evaluated on the basis of various grounds. It covers reporting of size, structure
and distribution pattern of these populations (.Lantolf, Thorne and Poehner, 2015). The data
collected is classified on the basis of their homogeneity and used by the marketers before
launching a product. The study of demography is important for an organisation as it helps in
formulating of plans and policies. Along with decision making it is also helpful in discovering its
positive and negative influence on business. Barclays Plc is Britain's most trusted financial
service provider. The company is renowned for their investment banking and management
services. This establishment covers a market share of over 7% of UK's residential mortgage
domain. The major demographic factors are age, sex, income, education and religion. This
external environment factor carries a greater level of influence of the functioning of the business.
It is necessary for management to understand the dynamism of demographic factors in
the market so that counter policies can be formulated. The reason for the same is mortgage is an
long term commitment by owner of the property to pay a specified amount for a specified period
of time. This domain help prospects into acquiring of home at the preferred location. The
practitioners are assigned to study the operational, knowledge and indicative measures (Lawless,
and Findlay, A. eds., 2015).
The response of an organisation to changing circumstances in the organisation are:
 The situation of Brexit have impacted the business in the worst possible manner. The
recent study conducted stated that people now perceive UK as a less likely place to stay
therefore declining the rate at which people prefer the services and products of the
company. The company's response to these circumstance were that they constructed some
cost cutting measures.
 The social and cultural factors are a major determinant while opting for mortgage
services. The average age in United Kingdom is above the age of 40 which states that
large extent of the people are either pensioner or are on the verge of retirement which

means there is high degree on dependence on the banking sector. This is one of the
positive feature in terms of banking. Therefore the company have launched an apprentice
program to support the workers over the age of 50 which brings this establishment in
positive lights (Lu, X. ed., 2012).
 The population of the UK grew by half a million people and adding to the total tally of
65.1 million. This is another favourable factor for an organisation as rise in the
population influences the demand for houses in the country. Major rise is seen in age
groups of 25-35 age groups in this demographic year.
 The rise in the mortgage outstanding debt is concerning for Barclays Plc. Due to the
unfavourable circumstances such as 'recession'. The mortgage holders are not able to
repay the debts taken by them.
 A data conducted on the Real estate stated that addition of 1% people in the age group of
15-64 gives rises the price of real state by 2.7%. This is vital as mortgage is directly
related to real estate situation of a company.
 The average wealth of UK per day is more than 4 euros. Which classifies it into wealthy
country. Which means that people can have access to basic requirement of housing and
shelter therefore less access of people to mortgage facilities.
 Demographics of a nation also considers immigrants in a nation. The immigrants are the
people who permanently settle into foreign. The office for national statistics found out
that there were 631,500 people came to settle in UK. The data proves the number of
people Britain sustains every year. Relatively older immigrants carry a huge reliance on
the banks and there are lesser number of acquaintances. Therefore creates a positive
impacts on the functioning of business. The Response to this circumstance was launch of
their latest scheme named as 'First-time home buyer centre'. The company is helping
people buy their first home to people who have trouble saving for their first home.
 Considering higher mobility of people in UK. The company have introduced
remortgaging facilities to help people move to other places and possess a home in a rent
free manner.
2.iii) Areas of improvement for business
Barclays Plc is known to supply the financial needs of people in the most perfect manner. The
company's brand value is significant in context of the market of United Kingdom. The financial

services of this organisation covers a marginal 7% of the total environment. The scope of
improvement in the business is there. Addressing all the areas will help company in performing
better in the market and enhancing their share of market. The major scope of improvement for
Barclays Plc are: Customer's Knowledge: This is another significant areas which is to be catered by the
organisation. Prospects does not possess a complete knowledge of the functioning of
business. People fear banks, so in order to make them acquainted it is necessary to
provide them with adequate knowledge. This establishment can partner with learning
academies to provide information to the people so that they access to banking services
frequently (Morgan, 2013). Financial Technology: This is another essential areas which carries a scope of
development. The adoption of latest technology promotes transparency in the
administrative functions. This carries a direct impact on enhancing the customer
satisfaction as they have access to all the information and activities which are carried out
in a transaction. Mobile payments, biometrics and social marketing. Employee development: It does not matter which sector a business operates in,
empowering an employee is vital. The satisfaction of employee results in high
performance results of the company. Training and empowering employees with right set
of learning and authority helps in building morale of the employees and perform up to
their potential. The issues and queries raised by them must be resolved at earliest possible
to promote efficiency and growth in the organisation. This establishment employs around
129,000 people according to data published in 2016. however they were rumours of
unfair treatment of minority and women in the organisation which are hampering
company's image (.Pringle, 2017). Advising prospects: An organisation doesn't just have to be the investor who fulfils the
financial requirement but should also acts a advisor to prospects. The people who
mortgage to buy houses are unaware of many aspects of this decision. The company
when acts as a advisor should provide with better and potential areas of investment so
that customer's choice is enhanced. The services can be provided for free or for a
nominal fees which is to be charged by the bank. This feature helps in building trust in

the organisation and result in positive outcomes for business (Proffit, Fields H.W and
Sarver, 2014.). Personalised customer experience: Every customer is different in terms of his needs,
finances and requirements. So Barclays Plc is should focus on catering the needs and
demands in its own personalised manner. Identifying requirement of a person will help in
building trust and confidence of the prospects in the organisation. Finances is one such
domain which have suffered due to lack of trust of people in the organisation and
rectification of the same will help in increasing foot over in the banks. Banks should
carefully evaluate the data which is available with the banks and that should be supplied
with quality products to create a better experience. The adoption of messaging services in
the business help in creating personalised experience by imitating them on the regular
basis. Prioritizing customer's, personalised interactions and email marketing are the ways
through which a customer feel valued (Spolaore and Wacziarg, 20).
 Consistency: It is one of crucial aspects when it comes to banking sector. Consistency in
the banking sector takes into consideration interest and taxes that is being paid by
mortgagee. A less fluctuation in these areas help in improving and retaining confidence
of the customer in the organisation. Barclays should try to increase the consistency in
service provision. In 2012 when banks were fined with amount of 290 million euros since
then they have adopted a consistency and stability in the rate of offerings.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above report that external factors have huge impact on the
working of the banking industry. It is necessary for the banks to study all the factors in advance
for conducting the banking transactions more smoothly. Banks are always need to understand the
behaviours of the customers to get sustainability in banking industry. From the above discussion,
also noticed that various demographic factors which affects the policies and decision making of
the banks. So, banks are need to improve in many areas like identification of the needs customer,
technology up gradation, customer service department etc.