Barclays and Sage Launch Strategic Partnership to Help Small Businesses Save Time and Improve Financial Visibility

Barclays and Sage Launch Strategic Partnership to Help Small Businesses Save Time and Improve Financial Visibility

(IN BRIEF) Barclays and Sage have announced a strategic partnership aimed at reducing administrative burdens for small and medium-sized businesses by integrating banking and accounting tools. The collaboration addresses a key challenge identified by Sage research, which shows that small businesses lose significant time to financial administration each year. By combining Barclays’ banking expertise with Sage’s digital accounting platform, the initiative will help businesses streamline financial processes, gain better visibility over their finances, and prepare for evolving UK regulations such as Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. The partnership is designed to improve efficiency, support compliance, and enable business owners to focus more on growth and development.

(PRESS RELEASE) LONDON, 17-Mar-2026 — /EuropaWire/ — Barclays has entered into a strategic partnership with Sage, a leading provider of accounting, financial, HR, and payroll software, to simplify financial administration for small and medium-sized businesses and help them focus more on growth. The collaboration aims to bring banking and accounting tools closer together, enabling businesses to manage their finances more efficiently while adapting to changing regulatory requirements in the UK.

Small business owners continue to face significant administrative burdens, with financial management tasks consuming valuable time that could otherwise be spent on core business activities. Research from Sage indicates that small businesses lose an average of 24 working days each year to financial administration. By combining Barclays’ business banking capabilities with Sage’s digital accounting solutions, the partnership seeks to reduce this workload through more integrated and streamlined tools.

The initiative will also support businesses in preparing for the expansion of the UK’s Making Tax Digital framework for Income Tax. By improving access to real-time financial data and simplifying reporting processes, the partnership aims to help companies maintain compliance while gaining clearer insight into their financial position.

Abdul Qureshi, Head of Business Banking at Barclays, highlighted that many small business owners are constrained by administrative demands, limiting their ability to grow. He noted that the partnership is designed to simplify financial processes and provide businesses with the tools needed to manage their obligations more effectively while focusing on expansion.

Gordon Stuart, Senior Vice President of Fintech and Embedded Services at Sage, emphasized the importance of practical, user-friendly technology that reduces complexity rather than adding to it. He explained that closer integration between banking and accounting systems will provide business owners with better visibility and control over their finances.

The collaboration forms part of Barclays’ broader efforts to support small businesses through digital solutions, financial services, and expert guidance. Sage’s cloud-based platform, which includes tools for invoicing, reconciliation, reporting, and financial management, will play a central role in delivering these capabilities.

Notes to editors

• This collaboration forms part of Barclays’ wider efforts to support small businesses through digital tools, expertise and financial services.
• Sage’s cloud accounting platform provides businesses with tools to manage invoicing, reconciliation, reporting and financial administration.

About Barclays

Our vision is to be the UK-centred leader in global finance.  We are a diversified bank with comprehensive UK consumer, corporate and wealth and private banking franchises, a leading investment bank and a strong, specialist US consumer bank. Through these five divisions, we are working together for a better financial future for our customers, clients and communities.

For further information about Barclays, please visit our website home.barclays

About Sage

Sage exists to knock down barriers so everyone can thrive, starting with the millions of Small and Mid Sized Businesses served by us, our partners and accountants. Customers trust our finance, HR and payroll software to make work and money flow.  By digitalising business processes and relationships with customers, suppliers, employees, banks and governments, our AI-powered platform connects SMBs, removing friction and delivering insights. Knocking down barriers also means we use our time, technology and experience to tackle digital inequality, economic inequality and the climate crisis.

Media Contact:

email: ukpressoffice@barclays.com

SOURCE: Barclays