Barclaycard Launches Cashback Card For Small Businesses

With small businesses reportedly optimistic in the face of loosened pandemic restrictions, Barclaycard has introduced a credit card designed to help them.

The British credit card provider said Wednesday (April 28) its Payments Select Cashback card is designed to reward businesses for spending as the economy reopens following more than a year of uncertainty.

The card provides 1 percent cash back on eligible purchases to small businesses with a turnover of 10,000 pounds and 6.5 million pounds, “providing support and rewards to help businesses prosper after a hard year.”

Barclaycard says its research shows small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) predict an 8.1 increase in revenue this year. Nearly 40 percent of those surveyed say they feel optimistic about their prospects.

This is in sharp contrast to last year, where confidence among small business owners declined sharply in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an OECD study.

The card also allows businesses to save on everyday purchases from brands like Amazon Business and Avis by unlocking exclusive rewards. Users can also get up to 56 days’ worth of interest-free credit by making timely, in-full payments.

Ian Reid, Barlcaycard’s managing director of small business cards, says the hope is to give merchants “some much-needed breathing space as they look to emerge from the struggles of the last year, and into a brighter and more prosperous summer.”

“We are thrilled to be working with Barclaycard to bring the SME cashback card to market, helping those businesses that have been hardest hit by the pandemic,” said Kelly Devine, Mastercard’s divisional president for the U.K. and Ireland. “Small businesses are the backbone of the UK economy and it is vitally important that we find ways to help them navigate these challenging times if we are to build back better.”

Barclaycard Chief Product Officer Maria Parpou told PYMNTS in an interview last summer that many of the digital innovations that gained favor during the pandemic will prove to have staying power.