Barclays rolls out GAYTMs for Pride in London LGBT festival

Barclays rolls out GAYTMs for Pride in London LGBT festival

Barclays is preparing to give London cash machines a makeover, turning them into GAYTMs for next month's Pride in London LGBT festival.

Barclays has been a Pride backer for three years but this time the bank has signed on as headline sponsor for the week-long event in central London, which takes place between 22 and 29 June.

To mark the deal, Barclays is set to turn a number of its cash machines along the route of the Pride parade into GAYTMs, making them more fabulous. Oz bank ANZ pulled a similar stunt for for the Sydney Mardi Gras festival earlier this year.

In addition, the popular Pingit mobile app is being harnessed, through 'Ping for Pride', allowing anyone with a bank account to donate to Pride in London via their mobile phone.

Event-goers will also be invited to apply for contactless Barclaycard paybands in advance of the festival, which they'll be able to use on the day to pay for drinks and food.

According to Gay Star News, Barclays is also showing its support for tomorrow's International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. All of its 3400 ATMs will show a couple, with rainbow-painted fingernails and bracelets, joining hands.

Barclays has a long history of LGBT support, consistently winning praise as an employer from Stonewall. In 2012 the bank launched a mobile application specifically designed for staff interested in LGBT issues.

Val Soranno Keating, global LGBT lead, Barclays, says: "Encouraging greater diversity within organisations is an essential driver of long-term, sustainable success and at Barclays we work hard to create a culture that enables colleagues, customers and clients to express who they are."

Comments: (1)

A Finextra member
A Finextra member 19 May, 2014, 08:40Be the first to give this comment the thumbs up 0 likes

While Barclays' support for LGBT is laudable, the image above makes one wonder why more ATMs are not decorated in interesting ways. It could be a way of engaging young generations who are at risk of living digitally and cash-free and a means of capitalising on a bank's real estate footprint, however small. Banks could engage more with their customer base rather than providing a vanilla service. Want to encourage account switching? If the customer experience at ATMs was distinctly different for a particular bank it could endear a customer more to a brand.

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