Barclays PLC (LON:BARC) has teamed up with digital payments firm PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) to combine their services for customers.
Customers in the UK and US will be able to manage their PayPal accounts on the bank’s online and mobile phone platforms. Barclays products will also be available on PayPal.
The partnership comes amid concerns about competition in the global payments industry from the likes of Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL).
Amazon is reportedly looking to join forces with JP Morgan Chase to launch a checking account. The two companies and Berkshire Hathaway are also considering a collaboration on healthcare payments.
The deal between Barclays and PayPal is still in early stages with the two still in talks about possible ways to combine their services.
“By joining forces, we can make it much easier for people to manage their money and payments,” Barclays UK chief executive Ashok Vaswani said in the bank’s statement.
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The tie-up is the first for a major UK bank to try to collaborate with a large fintech company rather than compete.
Such a move could help Barclays secure new customer accounts. However, it could also cannibalise income if revenue sharing is part of future deals.
Separately on Thursday, Barclays reported a first quarter loss after taking at £2bn hit from litigation and conduct costs.