Barclays Corporate & Employer Solutions Joins Forces with Solium to Provide Global Stock & Reward Services

CALGARY, Nov. 8, 2012 /CNW/ - Barclays today announced that its Corporate & Employer Solutions (C&ES) division has signed an agreement with Solium Capital Inc. to create a white-label version of the Solium Shareworks™ platform and administration services for clients as part of the Barclays C&ES Global Stock & Reward offering.

Barclays C&ES has invested significantly over the past year to build its capabilities, supported by a growing team of UK-wide industry professionals. Incorporating the Solium Shareworks administration platform is a significant boost to its Global Stock & Reward offering that will enable C&ES to provide a fully integrated and globally-administered platform with the aim of helping clients to recruit, retain and reward employees. Barclays has been offering these services in the UK for many years and is looking forward to servicing global plans as well as domestic plans for its clients.

In addition, Barclays Group has adopted the platform for the administration of its own global equity and long term incentive plans and has appointed Barclays C&ES as administrator. From 5th November 2012, Barclays C&ES has begun providing administration and brokerage services to Barclays discretionary share and cash plans which have over 8,500 participants.

Commenting on the Solium arrangement, Richard Phelps, Head of Barclays Corporate & Employer Solutions, said: "Barclays Group global equity plans are large and complex, and we are delighted to now be Barclays administrator of choice. By combining the Solium Shareworks platform with Barclays banking and brokerage expertise and our dedicated client servicing team, we can provide an integrated solution which delivers an exceptional service to corporate clients and their plan participants. With the team we have recruited over the last year and with Solium as a partner we're now ready to fully serve new clients in this area of employee benefits."

Solium Shareworks is the premier global solution for equity plan compensation administration. Shareworks is a fully integrated, web-based platform, tailored specifically for global equity compensation plans, with an employee trade-execution portal, industry-leading IFRS2 reporting capability and the most robust real-time global tax functionality in the market.

Recognising the increasing challenges in managing stock and reward plans in today's environment, Barclays C&ES aims to make the establishment and ongoing administration of these plans simpler and more effective. Through its partnership with Solium, Barclays C&ES can now deliver the following options all in one place:

• Access to a dedicated implementation/transaction team;
  
  
• Brokerage, execution FX and share dealing services;
  
  
• Offshore and onshore trusteeship (if necessary);
  
  
• Nominee and warehouse services;
  
  
• Participant portal, helpline, education and wealth management services, dedicated VIP team; and
  
  
• First class reporting and administration tools for HR teams.

Brian Craig, Managing Director and Head of Solium Capital UK, commented: "Solium is proud to partner with Barclays to power leading edge solutions and services for its C&ES Global Stock & Reward Services and we're confident that Solium Shareworks will provide a strong foundation for Barclays to achieve success as an elite provider of global and domestic equity plan management solutions to a complex and ever-evolving marketplace. The UK and global marketplaces have been under serviced, and the timing is right to bring new solutions and thought leadership to the fore."

About Barclays

Barclays moves, lends, invests and protects money for customers and clients worldwide. With over 300 years of history and expertise in banking, we operate in over 50 countries and employ over 140,000 people.

Our customers and clients benefit from access to the breadth of expertise across Barclays. We're one of the largest financial services providers in the world, engaged in retail banking, credit cards, corporate and investment banking, and wealth and investment management.

We are a leading global wealth and investment manager providing international and private banking, wealth planning, trust and fiduciary services, investment management, brokerage services and research to private and intermediary clients around the world.

About Solium

Solium (TSX: SUM) provides leading edge services for global equity administration, financial reporting and compliance. Through innovative technology and services, we power efficiency and accuracy of share plan administration and equity transactions. With operation centres in the United States, Canada and the UK, Solium serves more than 2,800 clients with employees in more than 80 countries. Follow us @Solium and visit us online at solium.com.

SOURCE: Solium Capital Inc.

Louise Pancott, Barclays, Corporate Communications
[email protected] [phone]

Scott Valentine, Solium, Marketing and Communications
[email protected] 0 1 403 472 5446