Barclays has roped in Amazon's head of European payments Antony Stephen to lead the bank’s POS finance business. Antony would be joining the Group on Monday 4 October 2021, as the new chief executive officer (CEO) for the Barclays Partner Finance (BPF) business, and its legal entity, Clydesdale Financial Services Ltd (CFSL).

As Barclay Partner Finance CEO, Antony is expected to focus on scaling the point-of-sale finance business across the UK, and offer senior leadership to Barclays Cubed, the bank's next-generation commerce platform. In his most recent role as Head of Amazon Payments Europe, Antony has led about $50+ billion portfolio of payment products that include credit cards, instalment loans and a financial services marketplace.

In his new role at Barclays, Antony would report to Ruchir Rodrigues, head of barclays Cubed & Consumer Bank Europe, with a focus on growing the point-of-sale finance business in the UK. Designed to provide an end-to-end shopping exchange between Barclays' customers and SME and corporate clients, Cubed forms a key part of the bank’s £900m income growth opportunity in payments, announced earlier this year.

Talking about his new role, Antony says, “This is an incredibly exciting time for point of sale finance - while the core business model has existed for a long time, it has surged in popularity and prominence in recent years, thanks to advancements in technology and changes in customer behaviour. With its unrivalled network of both consumers and major retailers, Barclays recognises the fantastic opportunity it has to lead the market, and I’m thrilled to be joining the bank at this pivotal moment.”

Barclays shifted into the buy now, pay later sector in November last year via associating with Amazon in Germany, providing customers a rolling credit line for future purchases from the e-commerce giant.