The Barclays Group donated an immediate £350,000 to the Red Cross emergency aid appeal. The Group will also match £for£ money donated by staff through payroll giving and specific fund raising activities.

Charges

Barclaycard is waiving processing charges on donations made on credit and debit cards to the Disaster Emergency Committee, its 12 member charities and other charities directly connected to the appeal. This will ensure as much money as possible reaches the area. The charges will be suspended from December 26th – the day of the disaster - to January 28th, which is when the official appeal is scheduled to close.

Barclays is also waiving charges for customers wishing to transfer money from their current account to affected people in South East Asia.

Impacted Customers

Barclays has set up a helpdesk to provide customers with facilities such as:

• An emergency cash service
• Cancellation and subsequent replacement of lost debit or credit cards
• Where necessary, arrangement of interest free overdraft facilities

• Barclays customers in the UK can call 0500 400 100, if calling from abroad they can call +44 151 230 0536, reverse charge calls accepted.

• Woolwich customers can call 01255 233999 in the UK or if calling from abroad can call +44 1255 233999, reverse charge calls accepted.
• Barclaycard customers in the UK can contact 0870 154 0154, if calling from abroad they can call +44 1604 230230, reverse charge calls accepted.

• Barclays customers in the UK can call 01733 457337, if calling from abroad they can call +44 1733 457337, reverse charge calls accepted.
• Woolwich customers are free to use the above number if they require advice on transferring money to the region but should continue to use the Woolwich helpline number as above to complete the transaction.