Who are Barclays US Consumer Bank's competitors, and what are the alternatives?
Barclays US Consumer Bank is a co-branded card issuer with more than 25 million customers, 20 partner brands and about a 3% share of the US card market (Barclays 20-F, 2025); it also sells online savings, CDs and, since buying Best Egg on May 1, 2026, personal loans. Its parent's 20-F says 'there is significant competition among card issuers' for co-brand relationships, and that contest is the main one. Synchrony's 10-K names American Express, Bread Financial, Capital One/Discover, JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, TD Bank and Wells Fargo as its primary competitors for partners, along with fintechs and point-of-sale lenders. Amex calls co-brand partnerships 'particularly competitive among card issuers and networks'. The clearest recent loss was American Airlines: Barclays exited that partnership on April 24, 2026, and Citi lists American Airlines among its co-branded portfolios. In online deposits, where Barclays holds more than $25 billion, Synchrony names Barclays alongside Ally, American Express, Capital One, Citi and Marcus by Goldman Sachs as a direct-bank rival. In personal loans Best Egg meets SoFi and LendingClub. The non-bank rivals are in payments and credit at checkout: Affirm's 10-K names card-issuing banks as its primary competition, and Apple's card, issued by Goldman Sachs, is the product the Barclays-issued Samsung Galaxy card was launched to rival.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]
Data as of Oct 20, 2026 · Barclays US profile updated Oct 19, 2026 · computed tables recalculate from the 140 bank profiles on this site · Markdown
What does Barclays US say about its competition?
Barclays US Consumer Bank files no annual report of its own; it reports through Barclays PLC's Annual Report on Form 20-F. The 2025 divisional review says: "US Consumer Bank (USCB) is a leading co-branded credit card issuer and financial services partner in the United States. Barclays US Consumer Bank has more than 25 million customers and partnerships with 20 of America's leading brands across the airline, travel, retail and affinity sectors. We provide co-branded, small business and private label credit cards, personal loans, online savings accounts, and certificates of deposits." It adds: "The US is the world's largest credit card market, and growing. With a c.3% share of the total market and partnerships with 20 major brands, we continue to see significant opportunities for growth."[1]
The US bank's own website describes it this way: "We're Barclays US Consumer bank, a top-tier credit card issuer with a history of innovations. We're partners of America's best brands, delivering award-winning banking products and services that help our customers achieve their financial goals." Its product menu lists credit cards, savings and CDs, and personal loans. (barclaysus.com, About Us, retrieved October 19, 2026.)[12]
From the 20-F risk factor on card partnerships: "The Group maintains several co-branded credit cards and credit card partnership agreements in the US and the UK. Such arrangements are a means of reaching new customers and expanding brand reach, but there is significant competition among card issuers for these relationships. A deterioration in or failure to maintain these credit card relationships with co-brand partners, including non-renewal of contracts with existing partners, early termination of partnership arrangements due to a contractual breach and changes in consumer behaviour regarding spending patterns, could have a negative impact on the Group's business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects."[1]
From the 20-F risk factor on competition in banking: "New competitors in the financial services industry continue to emerge. For example, technological advances and the growth of e-commerce have made it possible for non-banks to offer products and services that traditionally were banking products such as electronic securities trading, payments processing and online automated algorithmic-based investment advice. Furthermore, payments processing and other services could be significantly disrupted by technologies, such as blockchain (used in deposit tokenisations and stablecoins) and 'buy now pay later' lending." And: "New technologies and changing consumer behaviour have previously required, and could continue to require, the Group to incur additional costs to modify or adapt its products or make additional capital investments in its businesses to attract and retain clients and customers or to match products and services offered by its competitors, including technology companies. For example, the Group has continued to take steps to expand its investment in and to integrate AI technologies."[1]
On its US focus areas the same report lists: "Scaling and diversifying by growing existing partnerships and winning new partners. Investing in digitisation and AI to deliver enhanced customer experiences and operational efficiencies. Improving net interest margin by optimising pricing and credit mix, while reducing funding costs." (Barclays PLC Annual Report 2025 on Form 20-F, filed February 10, 2026.)[1]
Who competes with Barclays US in each of its businesses?
| Business line | Competitor | Type | Why it competes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Co-brand and partner credit cards | Citigroup | Bank | Citi's 2025 10-K lists Costco and American Airlines among its co-branded card portfolios and an extended American Airlines agreement from December 2024; Barclays exited its own American Airlines co-brand partnership on April 24, 2026, booking a gain of about £225 million.[6][5] |
| Co-brand and partner credit cards | American Express | Bank | Amex issues co-brand cards with Delta, Marriott, British Airways and Hilton and says co-brand partnerships are 'particularly competitive among card issuers and networks'; its co-brand portfolios were about 26% of worldwide billed business in 2025.[4] |
| Co-brand and partner credit cards | Synchrony Financial | Bank | Synchrony's 2025 10-K says it competes for relationships with partners on financial terms, technology, underwriting, marketing and loyalty programmes, naming major issuers and fintechs as its primary competitors for partners, the same contest Barclays describes in its 20-F.[3][1] |
| Co-brand and partner credit cards | Bread Financial | Bank | Named by Synchrony as a primary competitor for card partners; Bread's own 10-K says it competes with major financial institutions and fintechs in markets 'highly competitive, continuously changing, highly innovative'.[3][13] |
| Co-brand and partner credit cards | Capital One | Bank | Named as 'Capital One/Discover' among Synchrony's primary competitors for card partners; after the Discover acquisition it owns the Discover and Diners Club networks, which Amex's 10-K lists among its network rivals.[3][4] |
| Co-brand and partner credit cards | Apple Card (Apple, issued by Goldman Sachs) | Big tech | American Banker framed the Samsung Galaxy credit card, which Barclays issues and services inside Samsung's wallet, as a rival to Apple Card when it launched on July 20, 2026.[11][14] |
| Credit at checkout: pay-over-time and wallets | Affirm | Fintech | Affirm's fiscal 2026 10-K names 'legacy payment methods, such as credit and debit cards, including those provided by card issuing banks' as its primary competition; Barclays' 20-F names 'buy now pay later' lending among technologies that could disrupt payments.[10][1] |
| Credit at checkout: pay-over-time and wallets | Klarna | Fintech | Affirm's 10-K lists Klarna, PayPal and Block among the providers of pay-over-time solutions competing with cards, a category Barclays' 20-F flags as a source of disruption.[10][1] |
| Online savings and CDs | Synchrony Bank | Bank | Synchrony's 10-K names Barclays among the direct banks it competes with for deposits, saying 'competition among direct banks is intense because online banking provides customers the ability to rapidly deposit and withdraw funds'.[3] |
| Online savings and CDs | Ally Bank | Bank | Named with Barclays in Synchrony's list of direct-bank deposit competitors; Ally calls itself the nation's largest all-digital bank, with 3.5 million primary deposit customers at the end of 2025.[3][15] |
| Online savings and CDs | Marcus by Goldman Sachs | Bank | Named with Barclays in Synchrony's list of direct banks that compete for online deposits.[3] |
| Online savings and CDs | American Express (personal savings) | Bank | Named with Barclays in Synchrony's list of direct-bank deposit competitors; Amex's 10-K lists interest rates offered on deposits among the levers of its membership model.[3][4] |
| Online savings and CDs | SoFi | Bank | SoFi's 10-K says it competes 'for deposits among other banks, some challenger banks and a variety of technology and retail companies'; Barclays grew retail deposits 20% in 2025 with a tiered savings product and an AARP banking partnership.[8][1] |
| Personal loans (Best Egg) | SoFi | Bank | SoFi's 10-K lists 'competition among other personal loan, student loan, credit card and residential lenders' first; Best Egg, which Barclays bought on May 1, 2026, is a direct-to-consumer personal-loan originator focused on prime borrowers.[8][5] |
| Personal loans (Best Egg) | LendingClub | Fintech | LendingClub's 10-K says it competes with 'a broad array of traditional and new financial services providers, including banks and non-banks', and that AI is increasing competition; it is a direct-to-consumer personal lender like Best Egg.[9][16] |
| Personal loans (Best Egg) | Citigroup | Bank | Citi's Branded Cards business includes personal installment loans alongside its proprietary and co-branded cards, the same card-plus-loan mix Barclays built by adding Best Egg.[6][17] |
How do the AI and digital offerings of Barclays US's competitors compare?
Barclays US first, then each competitor. Use-case counts, index scores and latest moves are computed from our profiles of each company; "No profile" means this site has no page on it yet.
| Company | AI or digital offering | On the record (our profiles) | Latest dated AI move |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barclays US Consumer Bank (this page) | GenAI call summarisation under Barclays' group AI programme[18][16][19] | Index 55.5 (#51); 12 use cases, 8 in production | Group expands Anthropic collaboration (Oct 1, 2026)[20] |
| Citigroup | Citi Stylus Workspaces; 80%+ of colleagues using AI tools (April 2026)[21] | Index 94.9 (#2); 20 use cases, 15 in production | Payments chief: no AI model to authorise payments (Oct 1, 2026)[22] |
| American Express | Agentic Commerce Experiences (ACE) developer kit and Agent Purchase Protection (April 2026)[23] | Index 93.1 (#3); 24 use cases, 13 in production | Intent Intelligence framework published (Oct 13, 2026)[24][25] |
| Synchrony Financial | Synchrony GPT and a ChatGPT Enterprise rollout; nearly 100% of professional staff using AI tools[26][27] | Index 68.8 (#35); 15 use cases, 10 in production | Oxford Economics study and an AI-platform partnership for CareCredit (Sep 30, 2026)[28][29] |
| Bread Financial | AI review of 100% of customer calls (September 2025); an in-house agentic AI platform[30] | Index 50.5 (#57); 12 use cases, 10 in production | Bread Financial joins the Agentic AI Foundation as a Silver member (Aug 12, 2026)[31] |
| Capital One | Chat Concierge and an in-house agent stack[32] | Index 86.9 (#9); 13 use cases, 13 in production | Second on the Evident AI index for a fourth year (Oct 6, 2026)[33][34] |
| Apple Card (Apple, issued by Goldman Sachs) | GS AI Platform and GS AI Assistant[35][36] | Index 79.9 (#22); 13 use cases, 7 in production | Q3 2026 call: Solomon sets out AI guardrails and compute-supply risk (Oct 13, 2026)[37][38] |
| Affirm | Transformer-based underwriting model[39] | 8 use cases, 7 in production | Levchin: no staff cuts to fund AI (Sep 18, 2026)[40] |
| Klarna | Klarna AI Assistant[41][42][43][44] | 7 use cases, 7 in production | Q2 2026 results point to AI shopping surfaces (Aug 18, 2026)[45] |
| Synchrony Bank | Synchrony GPT and the ChatGPT Enterprise rollout[26][27][46] | Index 68.8 (#35); 15 use cases, 10 in production | Oxford Economics study and an AI-platform partnership for CareCredit (Sep 30, 2026)[28][29] |
| Ally Bank | Ally.ai platform for employees, 10,000-plus with access (July 2025)[47] | Index 76.5 (#27); 13 use cases, 9 in production | CRO: AI should be 'an accelerant', not just something to control (Oct 1, 2026)[48] |
| Marcus by Goldman Sachs | GS AI Platform and GS AI Assistant[35][36] | Index 79.9 (#22); 13 use cases, 7 in production | Q3 2026 call: Solomon sets out AI guardrails and compute-supply risk (Oct 13, 2026)[37][38] |
| American Express (personal savings) | Agentic Commerce Experiences (ACE) and Amex Agent Purchase Protection[23][49][50] | Index 93.1 (#3); 24 use cases, 13 in production | Intent Intelligence framework published (Oct 13, 2026)[24][25] |
| SoFi | SoFi Coach: nearly 500,000 conversations (July 2026)[51] | Index 80.4 (#20); 17 use cases, 14 in production | SoFiUSD settlement live on Mastercard (Sep 22, 2026)[52] |
| LendingClub | Machine-learning underwriting plus AI loan operations and the Penny service agent[9][53][54][55] | 7 use cases, 6 in production | Q2 2026: Penny AI agent and servicing tools reported (Jul 27, 2026)[54][55] |
Who should look beyond Barclays US, and where?
| If you are | Look at | Why |
|---|---|---|
| American Airlines cardholders | Citi | Barclays exited its American Airlines co-branded card partnership on April 24, 2026. Citi's 2025 10-K lists American Airlines among its co-branded card portfolios.[5][6] |
| People who want checking accounts and branches | JPMorgan Chase or Bank of America | Barclays US offers cards, personal loans, online savings and CDs, with no branch network. Chase reported 5,083 branches in 2025, and Bank of America runs 3,500 financial centers.[1][56][57] |
| Customers who want an established AI assistant in their banking app | Bank of America (Erica) | Barclays' conversational AI in its US app was only launching in February 2026. Bank of America says Erica, launched in 2018, has helped more than 24.6 million clients.[58][57] |
| Shoppers who want to pay over time at checkout without a credit card | Affirm or Klarna | Barclays sells revolving co-brand and private label cards. Affirm's 10-K positions its pay-over-time product against card-issuing banks, and names Klarna among other pay-over-time providers.[1][10] |
| Borrowers who want a personal loan with an in-app AI coach | SoFi | Best Egg gives Barclays a personal-loan platform but no disclosed AI coach. SoFi Coach had nearly 500,000 conversations by July 2026, with over 90% positive feedback.[5][51][59] |
Which brands do Barclays US and its card rivals issue for?
Co-brand partners named in each issuer's own 2025 filings or announcements. Partnerships change: Barclays exited American Airlines in April 2026.
| Issuer | Partners named | Source date |
|---|---|---|
| Barclays US | General Motors (new in 2025), Wyndham, Upromise, Carnival, Princess, Holland America; AARP banking partnership; Samsung (July 2026) | February and July 2026[1][14] |
| Citigroup | Costco, American Airlines | February 2026[6] |
| American Express | Delta Air Lines, Marriott International, British Airways, Hilton | February 2026[4] |
Which direct banks compete with Barclays US for online savings?
Synchrony's 2025 10-K names the direct banks it competes with for deposits, Barclays among them; this table sets each beside what it has disclosed.
| Direct bank | Named by Synchrony | Scale disclosed |
|---|---|---|
| Barclays US | Yes | More than $25 billion of online deposits (April 2026); retail deposits up 20% in 2025[3][7][1] |
| Ally | Yes | 3.5 million primary deposit customers (December 2025)[3][15] |
| American Express | Yes | Deposits offered within its membership model[3][4] |
| Capital One | Yes | See its profile[3] |
| Citi | Yes | See its profile[3] |
| Marcus by Goldman Sachs | Yes | See its profile[3] |
How large is Barclays Bank Delaware next to other branchless card and direct banks?
FDIC BankFind records for the chartered banks, June 30, 2026. Each runs from one to four offices, so deposits are gathered online, through partners or by brokers rather than through branches.
| Bank (charter) | Total deposits | Total assets | Offices |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Express National Bank | $171.6 billion | $213.9 billion | 1[60] |
| Ally Bank | $156.6 billion | $188.2 billion | 1[60] |
| Synchrony Bank | $86.0 billion | $115.2 billion | 2[60] |
| SoFi Bank | $46.8 billion | $56.8 billion | 4[60] |
| Barclays Bank Delaware | $35.3 billion | $43.5 billion | 1[60] |
| Comenity Capital Bank (Bread Financial) | $11.0 billion | $13.9 billion | 2[60] |
Who are Barclays US's biggest competitors?
In co-brand cards, the issuers Synchrony names as its primary competitors for partners (American Express, Bread Financial, Capital One/Discover, JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, TD Bank and Wells Fargo) plus Synchrony itself. In online savings, Synchrony, Ally, American Express, Capital One, Citi and Marcus. In personal loans, SoFi and LendingClub.[3][8][9]
Does any rival name Barclays as a competitor?
Yes. Synchrony's 2025 10-K names Barclays among the direct banks it competes with for deposits, with Ally Financial, American Express, Capital One, CIT, Citi, E-Trade and Marcus by Goldman Sachs. Barclays' own 20-F names no rival but says there is significant competition among card issuers for co-brand relationships.[3][1]
Barclays US vs Citi for credit cards?
Citi is far larger and issues both its own cards and co-brands such as Costco and American Airlines; Barclays US is a co-brand specialist with about a 3% share of the US card market and 20 partners. Barclays left its American Airlines partnership on April 24, 2026. On AI disclosure Citi scores 94.9 to Barclays US's 55.5.[6][1][5]
Is Affirm a competitor of Barclays US?
By category. Affirm's 10-K names credit and debit cards from card-issuing banks as its primary competition, and Barclays' 20-F names buy-now-pay-later lending among technologies that could disrupt payments. Neither names the other specifically.[10][1]
Who competes with Best Egg?
Other direct-to-consumer personal lenders. SoFi's 10-K lists competition among personal loan lenders first, and LendingClub competes with banks and non-banks in consumer lending. Best Egg, bought by Barclays on May 1, 2026, has facilitated more than $40 billion of personal loans since 2013.[8][9][2][16]
How big is Barclays US's deposit base compared with Synchrony and Ally?
Smaller. FDIC records for June 30, 2026 show $35.3 billion of deposits at Barclays Bank Delaware, against $86.0 billion at Synchrony Bank, $156.6 billion at Ally Bank and $171.6 billion at American Express National Bank. Barclays grew US retail deposits 20% in 2025 and moved its online deposits onto FIS's cloud-ready Profile core in 2026.[60][1][7]
Is Barclays US the same as Barclays' investment bank in the US?
No. This page covers Barclays US Consumer Bank (Barclays Bank Delaware): co-brand and private label cards, personal loans, online savings and CDs. Barclays' US investment banking and markets businesses sit in the group's Barclays Investment Bank division, which serves corporate and institutional clients.[1]
What does the Samsung card say about Barclays' competition?
It shows the tech-platform contest in cards. The Samsung Galaxy credit card, launched on July 20, 2026 with Barclays as issuer and Visa as network, lives inside Samsung's wallet so cardholders need not use the bank's app; American Banker framed it as a rival to Apple Card.[11][14]
- Barclays PLC Annual Report 2025 on Form 20-F
- Barclays Completes Acquisition of Best Egg
- Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025
- American Express Company Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2025
- Barclays PLC Interim Results Announcement 30 June 2026 (Form 6-K)
- Citigroup Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025
- Barclays and FIS Extend Partnership Supporting Bank's Online Deposits Growth
- SoFi Technologies, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2025
- LendingClub Corporation Annual Report (Form 10-K) for fiscal year 2025
- Affirm Holdings Annual Report (Form 10-K) for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2026
- Samsung launches Galaxy credit card to rival Apple Card
- About Us: Who we are (retrieved 2026-10-19)
- Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025
- Samsung launches its first credit card in the U.S.
- Ally Financial Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025
- Barclays to buy Best Egg for $800M and expand U.S. footprint
- Barclays to Acquire Leading U.S. Personal Loan Originator Best Egg
- Barclays harnesses GenAI to deliver world-class customer service
- Barclays Research Appoints Sahana Athreya as Global Head of Data Science & Applied AI
- Barclays scales Claude to upgrade operations and improve client experience
- Earnings Results Presentation, First Quarter 2026
- The Most Powerful Women in Banking Women to Watch, #7, Debopama Sen, Citi
- American Express Debuts Agentic Commerce Experiences (ACE)™ Developer Kit and Announces Industry-First Protection for Registered Agent Purchases
- American Express Publishes Intent Intelligence Framework for Trusted Agentic Commerce
- Amex introduces a framework to prevent AI agents from making unauthorized purchases
- Synchrony Elevates AI Strategy Hiring Nimrod Barak as Chief AI Officer to Accelerate Innovation
- Synchrony Announces Enterprise Collaboration with OpenAI to Power the Next Era of Agentic Commerce
- Synchrony and Oxford Economics Find Trust Will Define the Future of AI Shopping
- CareCredit Partners with Vetspire to Modernize Veterinary Payments with AI-Enabled Practice Solutions
- Strategic Moves and Market Insights By Investing.com (Bread Financial at the Barclays 23rd Annual Global Financial Services Conference)
- Agentic AI Foundation Welcomes 57 New Members, Gaining Major Financial Services Players and APAC Leaders
- Capital One builds agentic AI to supercharge auto sales
- JPMorganChase still tops AI ranking as big-bank lead widens
- Banks prioritize responsible AI, governance as use soars
- Goldman Sachs staff now write a million gen AI prompts a month
- Marco Argenti gives Goldman Sachs coders an AI helper
- Earnings call transcript: Goldman Sachs tops Q3 2026 estimates as revenue rises
- Goldman's Solomon wants 'clear human accountability' on AI
- Affirm launches transformer-based machine learning model for real-time underwriting
- Never had to cut staff to buy more AI tokens, says Affirm CEO as it rolls out AI underwriting
- Klarna AI assistant handles two-thirds of customer service chats in its first month
- Klarna CEO says AI helped company shrink workforce by 40%
- Klarna Q3 2025 Investor Presentation (Exhibit 99.2 to Form 6-K)
- Klarna Group plc Annual Report (Form 20-F) for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025
- Klarna Q2'26 Earnings Release (Exhibit 99.2 to Form 6-K)
- #29 Carol Juel's human-centered bet on the future of AI
- Ally Financial rolls out proprietary AI platform enterprise-wide
- The Most Powerful Women in Banking Women to Watch, #9, Stephanie Richard, Ally Financial
- American Express to Acquire Hyper, Adding to Its AI Expertise and Expense Management Capabilities
- Amex tries to 'grease the skids' for agentic commerce
- SoFi second-quarter 2026 earnings release (8-K Exhibit 99.1)
- SoFi Becomes First National Bank to Go Live with Stablecoin Settlement across Mastercard's Global Payments Network
- LendingClub Reports First Quarter 2026 Results
- Happen, Inc. Reports Second Quarter 2026 Results
- Happen’s Digital Banking Push Helps Deposits Jump 18%
- JPMorgan Chase & Co. Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025
- Bank of America Fast Facts (undated page, retrieved 2026-10-19)
- BARCLAYS PLC ORD 25P (BARC.L) Q4 FY2025 earnings call transcript
- SoFi Technologies Q2 Earnings Call Highlights
- BankFind institution records: Barclays Bank Delaware, Synchrony Bank, Ally Bank, American Express National Bank, Comenity Capital Bank and SoFi Bank (June 30, 2026)
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