Barclays gets a web banking makeover

Barclays has unveiled a new design for its online banking site.

Barclays said the website - used by more than a million customers per day - has been updated with a clearer layout and navigation in order to give customers easier access to standard functions such as making, viewing or changing payments; transferring money between accounts and viewing statements.

Barclays users can also use online banking to notify the bank that they want to use their debit card while abroad as well as renaming their savings accounts to identify them more easily.

Ease of use, along with security and personalisation, were recently found to be among the most valued online banking features by consumers. Online banking is viewed as an important channel for financial services firms, helping to take pressure from high street branches.

Barclays' redesign is the first in a series of changes for the bank's online properties, according to its digital banking director Sean Gilchrist: over the next 12 months, the bank will introduce new tools and features for customers and implement a new design for the bank's Barclays.co.uk homepage.

It also revamped its .mobi domain site earlier this year, which allows customers to view their account balance and 'at a glance' statements, make transfers between accounts and make payments outside of the bank.

The bank said its credit card business, Barclaycard, is also soon to launch "significantly improved" online account management for its customers called mybarclaycard.

Barclays has more than three million online banking users, according to the bank - some of whom were without service earlier today after the company suffered an outage of its online banking service for between two and three hours from around 10am.

A Barclays spokesman told silicon.com: "We had a short term hardware problem which interrupted service for a couple of hours but we're now starting to return to normal service for customers."

Barclays was unable to say how many customers were affected by the issue.