Is the New Barclaycard Identity and Rebrand worth £1.5million?

Barclay has recently had a complete rebrand and new identity designed by Brand Union.
The logo cost £600,000 which was part of an overall £1.5m identity makeover.

According to the designers, the new Barclaycard identity aims to convey a calm, confident exterior while being warm and vibrant on the insideand that the globe motif represents a chip being released from the constraints of the plastic card and welcomed in by new, exciting methods of payment.

There is currently much a debate going on over at the Creative Review Blog about this new Barclaycard identity about whether this identity is an improvement on the previous and what it is actually trying to communicate?
In my opinion its an interesting marque which suggests protection of some sort as well as communicating technology on some level.
BUT
Does it say banking or credit card use, does it need to?
More importantly is this worth £600,000?