Who are Barclays PLC's competitors, and what are the alternatives?
Barclays competes in four distinct markets, and its rivals change with each. In investment banking it ranked sixth in both Global Markets and Investment Banking in 2025 and calls itself 'a leading non-US-domiciled bank that can consistently compete with its US peers'; Reuters reports that Wall Street banks held 37% of EMEA investment banking fees in 2025, that Goldman Sachs led the region with 6.8%, followed by JPMorgan and BNP Paribas, and that Barclays lost ground while BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank gained. Barclays' own fees fell 2% in 2025 while its Global Markets revenue rose 15%. In UK retail banking, Barclays UK serves more than 20 million customers through Barclays, Barclaycard and Tesco Bank, against Lloyds, NatWest and HSBC UK and app-based banks such as Monzo (15.2 million customers) and Revolut (13 million UK customers). In UK corporate banking it competes with HSBC and NatWest. In US cards, Barclays US Consumer Bank has more than 25 million customers, 20 partner brands and about 3% of the market; it took the GM card from Goldman Sachs and competes for co-brand partners with American Express and Synchrony. The non-bank rivals are named in Barclays' own 20-F: non-banks offering 'electronic securities trading, payments processing and online automated algorithmic-based investment advice', and 'buy now pay later' lending, where Klarna is the largest name with a page here.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
Data as of Oct 20, 2026 · Barclays profile updated Oct 13, 2026 · computed tables recalculate from the 140 bank profiles on this site · Markdown
What does Barclays say about its competition?
Barclays PLC Annual Report 2025 on Form 20-F (filed 10 February 2026), "Competition in the banking and financial services industry": "The Group operates in a highly competitive environment in which it must evolve and adapt to significant changes as a result of regulatory reform, technological advances, increased public scrutiny and changes to market and economic conditions. The Group expects that competition in the financial services industry will remain intense and may have a material adverse effect on the Group's future business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects."[1]
The same risk factor names the non-bank rivals: "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." It adds that payments "could be significantly disrupted by technologies, such as blockchain (used in deposit tokenisations and stablecoins) and 'buy now pay later' lending", and that central bank digital currencies "could allow new competitors, some previously hindered by banking regulation (such as certain FinTechs), to provide customers with access to banking facilities".[1]
On technology companies and AI, the filing says Barclays may have to make investments "to match products and services offered by its competitors, including technology companies", and that "any failures to adequately leverage AI technologies, or the adoption of an overly conservative approach to AI implementation, could cause the Group to miss significant business opportunities, fall behind competitors, and adversely affect its growth prospects and financial performance."[1]
On market position, the Investment Bank review says: "In 2025, we maintained our rank of sixth across the Investment Bank in both Global Markets and Investment Banking. We are a leading non-US-domiciled bank that can consistently compete with its US peers in each of the major capital markets of the US, Europe, and Asia." For US cards: "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]
Who competes with Barclays in each of its businesses?
| Business line | Competitor | Type | Why it competes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barclays Investment Bank: advisory, capital markets and Global Markets | Goldman Sachs | Bank | Goldman was the leading investment bank in Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 2025 with a 6.8% share of available fees (LSEG data via Reuters), while Barclays lost ground; Barclays ranks sixth globally in Investment Banking.[2][1] |
| Barclays Investment Bank: advisory, capital markets and Global Markets | JPMorgan Chase | Bank | JPMorgan ranked second in EMEA investment banking fees in 2025; Reuters reports Barclays' 2025 investment banking fees fell 2%, 'undershooting double-digit gains from Wall Street rivals', and that Barclays makes 50% to 60% of its investment bank revenue in the US.[2][3] |
| Barclays Investment Bank: advisory, capital markets and Global Markets | BNP Paribas | Bank | BNP Paribas ranked third in EMEA investment banking fees in 2025, the top European bank, and gained 0.1 percentage point of share while Barclays and HSBC lost ground (LSEG data via Reuters).[2] |
| Barclays Investment Bank: advisory, capital markets and Global Markets | Deutsche Bank | Bank | Deutsche Bank is one of the European investment banks Reuters says have lost share to US banks since 2008 alongside Barclays and Société Générale; in 2025 it gained 0.1 point of EMEA fee share while Barclays slipped.[2] |
| Barclays Investment Bank: advisory, capital markets and Global Markets | Morgan Stanley | Bank | Morgan Stanley ranked fifth in EMEA investment banking fees in 2025, one of the five US banks Barclays includes in its 11-firm remuneration peer group of key competitors.[2][1] |
| Barclays UK: current accounts, cards, mortgages (Barclays, Barclaycard, Tesco Bank) | Lloyds Banking Group | Bank | Lloyds is the other large UK ring-fenced retail bank (£994.2 billion of assets, June 2026); Reuters notes Barclays followed 'rival Lloyds' in setting more ambitious profit guidance in early 2026.[8][3] |
| Barclays UK: current accounts, cards, mortgages (Barclays, Barclaycard, Tesco Bank) | NatWest | Bank | NatWest runs the competing UK retail franchise behind the Cora assistant, which handled 12.9 million customer conversations in 2025; Barclays UK serves more than 20 million customers.[9][1] |
| Barclays UK: current accounts, cards, mortgages (Barclays, Barclaycard, Tesco Bank) | HSBC UK | Bank | HSBC UK grew mortgage balances by $9 billion in 2025 to an 8.1% share of UK retail mortgages and relaunched its Premier proposition, the affluent segment Barclays UK says it is focused on growing.[10][1] |
| Barclays UK: current accounts, cards, mortgages (Barclays, Barclaycard, Tesco Bank) | Monzo | Fintech | Monzo has been a fully regulated UK bank since 2017 and served 15.2 million personal and business customers at 31 March 2026.[4] |
| Barclays UK: current accounts, cards, mortgages (Barclays, Barclaycard, Tesco Bank) | Revolut | Fintech | The PRA lifted restrictions on Revolut's UK bank on 11 March 2026, letting it offer FSCS-protected deposits to its 13 million UK customers.[5] |
| Barclays UK Corporate Bank and International Corporate Banking | HSBC | Bank | HSBC's UK commercial banking business was voted 'Best Bank for Corporates' in the UK by Euromoney for a second year (2025); Barclays UK Corporate Bank says it grew lending market share by 1% in 2025 in a competitive market.[10][1] |
| Barclays UK Corporate Bank and International Corporate Banking | NatWest | Bank | NatWest's Commercial & Institutional business serves approximately one million customers, for whom it introduced AI-based digital identity verification; Barclays UK Corporate Bank serves UK companies above £6.5 million of turnover.[9][1] |
| Barclays US Consumer Bank: co-brand and partner cards | American Express | Bank | American Express's 2025 10-K says 'We face intense competition in the premium space and for cobrand relationships', the airline, travel and retail partnerships that make up Barclays US Consumer Bank's 20-brand portfolio.[7][1] |
| Barclays US Consumer Bank: co-brand and partner cards | Goldman Sachs | Bank | Barclays replaced Goldman Sachs as the exclusive issuer of General Motors' two credit cards, just a few years after Goldman had won the contract from Barclays; accounts moved in 2025.[6][11] |
| Barclays US Consumer Bank: co-brand and partner cards | Synchrony | Bank | Synchrony's 2025 10-K describes competing for retail partner card programs; Barclays US counts all four Gap brands among its retail partners and issues private label as well as co-branded cards.[12][11][1] |
| Payments: merchant acceptance and buy now, pay later | Klarna | Fintech | Barclays' 20-F names 'buy now pay later' lending as a technology that could significantly disrupt payments, with the FCA regulating it from 15 July 2026; Klarna is the largest BNPL provider with a page here and sought a US bank charter in July 2026.[1][13] |
| Payments: merchant acceptance and buy now, pay later | Adyen | Payments company | Barclays moved its payment acceptance (merchant acquiring) business into a partnership with Brookfield announced in April 2025; Adyen, which holds UK banking authorization since 2023, sells merchant acquiring directly to the same merchants.[1][14] |
How do the AI and digital offerings of Barclays's competitors compare?
Barclays 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 PLC (this page) | Group AI stack: Microsoft 365 Copilot, Claude and BARXBot[15][16][17][18][1] | Index 76 (#31); 20 use cases, 13 in production | Co-COO on model choice and agentic AI (Oct 1, 2026)[19] |
| Goldman Sachs | GS AI Assistant for all 46,000 employees; Marquee AI assistant for institutional clients in internal testing[20][21] | Index 78.5 (#23); 13 use cases, 7 in production | Q3 2026 call: Solomon sets out AI guardrails and compute-supply risk (Oct 13, 2026)[22][23] |
| JPMorgan Chase | LLM Suite with 150,000 weekly users across the firm[24] | Index 87.5 (#9); 15 use cases, 8 in production | Q3 2026 call: outside AI agents stay blocked; AI spend put near $700 million (Oct 13, 2026)[25][26][27] |
| BNP Paribas | LLM@CIB assistant for more than 65,000 employees; Gemini agents for corporate credit memos[28] | Index 72 (#43); 20 use cases, 12 in production | Five-year Google Cloud partnership for agentic AI (Sep 24, 2026)[28][29] |
| Deutsche Bank | Investment Bank targets 100% AI-enabled engineers and more than 40% of its estate on cloud by 2028[30] | Index 78.9 (#22); 17 use cases, 10 in production | Farsight deployed on-premise in investment banking and capital markets (Oct 13, 2026)[31] |
| Morgan Stanley | AskResearchGPT for investment banking, sales and trading staff over 70,000-plus research reports[32] | Index 66.6 (#51); 14 use cases, 9 in production | OpenAI launches ChatGPT for Financial Services, shaped with Morgan Stanley and Evercore (Sep 10, 2026)[33][34] |
| Lloyds Banking Group | AI financial assistant with more than 500,000 Bank of Scotland customers[35] | Index 83.6 (#13); 19 use cases, 11 in production | Evident AI index 2026: 15th again (Oct 6, 2026)[36] |
| NatWest | Cora with agentic spending insights and a Fraud Triage Agent[37] | Index 75.1 (#35); 19 use cases, 11 in production | Evident AI Index places NatWest 17th (Oct 6, 2026)[38] |
| HSBC UK | HSBC Productivity Suite and the central AI platform[10][39][40][41][42] | Index 88.5 (#6); 21 use cases, 9 in production | AI-agent micropayment test with Ant Digital (Oct 9, 2026)[43] |
| Monzo | AI self-service handles 62% of inbound chats and resolves 55% of them[4] | 9 use cases, 8 in production | EU CEO Michael Carney to step down (Sep 22, 2026)[44] |
| Revolut | AIR assistant for everyday money tasks (April 2026)[45] | 7 use cases, 5 in production | OCC grants conditional approval for a US national bank charter (Sep 3, 2026)[46][47] |
| HSBC | HSBCnio with Model Context Protocol access to account data for corporate clients' own AI tools[48] | Index 88.5 (#6); 21 use cases, 9 in production | AI-agent micropayment test with Ant Digital (Oct 9, 2026)[43] |
| American Express | Agentic Commerce Experiences (ACE) and Amex Agent Purchase Protection[49][50][51] | Index 92.4 (#3); 24 use cases, 13 in production | Intent Intelligence framework published (Oct 13, 2026)[52][53] |
| Synchrony | Synchrony GPT and the ChatGPT Enterprise rollout[54][55][56] | Index 62.5 (#58); 15 use cases, 10 in production | Oxford Economics study and an AI-platform partnership for CareCredit (Sep 30, 2026)[57][58] |
| Klarna | AI assistant that handled two-thirds of customer service chats in its first month[59] | 7 use cases, 7 in production | Q2 2026 results point to AI shopping surfaces (Aug 18, 2026)[60] |
| Adyen | Adyen Uplift, an AI payment-optimization product launched in January 2025[61] | 7 use cases, 4 in production | Adyen Index Singapore: 'The agentic paradox' (Sep 23, 2026)[62] |
Who should look beyond Barclays, and where?
| If you are | Look at | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Companies that want the top-ranked M&A and capital markets adviser in Europe | Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan or BNP Paribas | LSEG data reported by Reuters ranked Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and BNP Paribas first to third in EMEA investment banking fees in 2025, with Barclays losing share; Barclays ranks sixth globally and its 2025 fees fell 2%.[2][3][1] |
| US customers who want a branch network rather than a partner card and online savings account | Chase or another large US branch bank | Barclays US Consumer Bank offers co-branded and private label cards, personal loans, online savings accounts and CDs; JPMorgan owned or leased 5,083 branches in 48 states and Washington D.C. at the end of 2025.[1][63] |
| UK customers who want an app-only bank with an AI assistant built in | Monzo or Revolut | Monzo, a UK bank since 2017 with 15.2 million customers, says AI self-service handles 62% of inbound chats; Revolut's UK bank launched fully in March 2026 for 13 million UK customers and its AIR assistant went live in April 2026.[4][5][45] |
| Merchants that want a single global acquiring and payments platform | Adyen | Barclays has moved its merchant acquiring business, now called payment acceptance, into a partnership with Brookfield Asset Management (announced April 2025); Adyen is a UK-authorized bank that sells acquiring directly and builds its own AI payment-optimization tools.[1][14][61] |
| Shoppers who want to split a purchase into installments at checkout | Klarna | Barclays' 20-F names buy now, pay later lending as a disruptor of payments, regulated by the FCA from 15 July 2026; Klarna's AI assistant handled two-thirds of its customer service chats in its first month.[1][59] |
Where does Barclays stand against the banks that lead investment banking in Europe?
LSEG fee data reported by Reuters on 22 December 2025, and Barclays' own ranking in its 20-F. Measures differ between rows.
| Bank | Position | Change in 2025 | Source basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goldman Sachs | First in EMEA, 6.8% of available fees | US banks held 37% of EMEA fees, near the 40% peak | LSEG via Reuters[2] |
| JPMorgan Chase | Second in EMEA | US banks gained share in equity offerings and M&A | LSEG via Reuters[2] |
| BNP Paribas | Third in EMEA, first European bank | +0.1 point of share | LSEG via Reuters[2] |
| Deutsche Bank | Behind the top five in EMEA | +0.1 point of share | LSEG via Reuters[2] |
| Barclays | Sixth globally in both Global Markets and Investment Banking | Lost EMEA share; investment banking fees -2%, Global Markets revenue +15% | Barclays 20-F; Reuters, 10 February 2026[1][2][3] |
| HSBC | Retreating from Western M&A and ECM | Lost EMEA share | LSEG via Reuters[2][10] |
Why does Barclays have such different competitors in each business?
Barclays allocates 55% of its £357 billion of risk-weighted assets to the Investment Bank, 24% to Barclays UK, 8% to the US Consumer Bank, 7% to the UK Corporate Bank and 2% to Private Bank and Wealth Management (2025). The Investment Bank's rivals are the US and European universal banks; Barclays UK's are Lloyds, NatWest, HSBC UK and the app banks; the US Consumer Bank's are the card issuers that compete for airline, hotel and retail partners.[1]
Two moves show where it is choosing to compete. In the US it bought Best Egg, a personal-loan platform, for $800 million (closed 1 May 2026) and won the GM card from Goldman Sachs, while exiting the American Airlines portfolio (about $6.5 billion of receivables); Reuters reports analysts are sceptical about US consumer growth 'given heavy competition from domestic incumbents'. In the UK it bought Tesco Bank and is integrating it, and moved merchant acquiring into a partnership with Brookfield.[64][6][65][3][1]
Who are Barclays' biggest competitors?
By business: Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley in investment banking; Lloyds, NatWest, HSBC UK, Monzo and Revolut in UK retail banking; HSBC and NatWest in UK corporate banking; and American Express, Synchrony and Goldman Sachs for US co-brand card partners. Barclays' 20-F adds non-banks in payments, trading and investment advice.[2][1][7][6]
Barclays vs Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan: who wins in investment banking?
The US banks, on 2025 fee data. Goldman Sachs led EMEA investment banking with a 6.8% share and JPMorgan was second, while Barclays lost ground; Reuters reports Barclays' 2025 investment banking fees fell 2% while Wall Street rivals posted double-digit gains. Barclays' Global Markets revenue rose 15% and it ranks sixth globally in both businesses.[2][3][1]
Who competes with Barclays in US credit cards?
Barclays US Consumer Bank has about 3% of the US card market, more than 25 million customers and 20 partner brands. It competes for co-brand partners with American Express, which describes intense competition for cobrand relationships, and with Synchrony for retail programs; it took the GM card from Goldman Sachs and exited the American Airlines portfolio.[1][7][12][6][65]
Is Klarna a competitor of Barclays?
In consumer credit at checkout, yes. Barclays' 2025 20-F names 'buy now pay later' lending as a technology that could significantly disrupt payments and notes the FCA began regulating it on 15 July 2026. Barclaycard and the Tesco Bank card and loan books are Barclays' own consumer credit products in the UK.[1][13]
Is Revolut or Monzo a competitor of Barclays?
Yes, in UK retail banking. Monzo has 15.2 million customers and has been a UK bank since 2017; Revolut's UK bank exited mobilisation on 11 March 2026 for 13 million UK customers. Barclays UK serves more than 20 million customers and its 20-F says technology lets non-banks offer services that were traditionally banking products.[4][5][1]
Barclays vs Lloyds: how do they compete?
Both run large ring-fenced UK retail banks: Barclays UK with more than 20 million customers and Lloyds with £994.2 billion of group assets. Lloyds is almost entirely UK-focused, while Barclays puts 55% of its risk-weighted assets into its Investment Bank and runs a US card business.[1][8]
Who competes with Barclays in UK corporate banking?
HSBC and NatWest are the main named rivals on the record. HSBC's UK commercial bank was voted Euromoney's 'Best Bank for Corporates' in the UK for a second year in 2025, and NatWest's Commercial & Institutional business serves about one million customers. Barclays UK Corporate Bank serves companies above £6.5 million of turnover and says it grew lending market share by 1% in 2025.[10][9][1]
Who replaced Goldman Sachs as GM's credit card issuer?
Barclays. Banking Dive reported in October 2024 that Barclays would become the exclusive issuer of General Motors' two Mastercard credit cards, replacing Goldman Sachs a few years after Goldman had beaten Barclays for the contract; the GM card was among the US Consumer Bank's 2025 wins.[6][11]
- Barclays PLC Annual Report 2025 on Form 20-F
- European investment banks fail to capitalise on Trump Tariff turmoil
- Barclays lifts profit and targets as it looks to US to boost returns
- Monzo Annual Report and Accounts 2026
- Revolut Launches UK Bank
- Barclays replaces Goldman Sachs as GM card issuer
- American Express Company Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2025
- Lloyds Banking Group plc 2026 Half-Year Results (news release)
- NatWest Group plc 2025 Annual Report and Accounts
- Annual Report and Accounts 2025
- 6 questions with Barclays' US CMO
- Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025
- Klarna seeks U.S. bank charter in latest push beyond buy now, pay later
- Adyen granted UK banking authorization
- BARCLAYS PLC ORD 25P (BARC.L) Q4 FY2025 earnings call transcript
- Barclays to roll out Microsoft 365 Copilot to 100,000 colleagues
- Barclays scales Claude to upgrade operations and improve client experience
- Scaling AI at Barclays: implementation, efficiency, and the future of customer experience (undated page, retrieved 2026-10-05)
- The Most Powerful Women in Banking Women to Watch, #24, Anne Marie Darling, Barclays
- Goldman Sachs staff now write a million gen AI prompts a month
- Building AI Systems for Capital Markets (Goldman Sachs Exchanges)
- Earnings call transcript: Goldman Sachs tops Q3 2026 estimates as revenue rises
- Goldman's Solomon wants 'clear human accountability' on AI
- 2026 Company Update Transcript - Chairman and CEO Q&A
- JPMorgan Chase blocks outside AI agents like Muse, Instinct from directly accessing accounts
- JPMorgan CEO Dimon warns customers of 'liability transfer' with AI
- JPMorgan warns of risks to consumers who rely on AI agents
- BNP Paribas and Google Cloud Announce New Partnership on Agentic AI and Cloud Innovation
- BNP Paribas forges agentic AI partnership with Google Cloud
- Investor Deep Dive 2025: Investment Bank presentation (Fabrizio Campelli)
- Deutsche Bank Deploys Farsight On-Premise Across Investment Banking and Capital Markets in Europe and the Americas
- Morgan Stanley Research Announces AskResearchGPT
- Introducing ChatGPT for Financial Services
- OpenAI courts Wall Street with ChatGPT for financial services, developed with Morgan Stanley
- Lloyds targets more than 1,000 new AI roles as it expands agentic AI capability
- UBS only European bank in top 10 of AI adoption as JPMorgan Chase leads
- NatWest Group first to unveil next generation of AI tools to help customers manage money and receive fraud support
- UBS only European bank in top 10 of AI adoption as JPMorgan Chase leads
- HSBC announces David Rice as its first Chief AI Officer
- HSBC and Mistral AI join forces to accelerate AI adoption across global bank
- HSBC and Google Cloud Announce Transformative AI Banking Partnership
- Transforming HSBC with AI | HSBC and Digital (undated page, retrieved 2026-10-05)
- Ant Digital Technologies and HSBC announce successful AI agent micropayment technical verification test
- Monzo's EU Chief Leaves Neobank to Launch Robotics Startup
- Revolut enters new era of money intelligence with launch of AI assistant
- Revolut Receives Conditional Approval from U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to Form a National Bank
- Revolut wins US charter with limits on four products
- HSBC launches HSBCnio digital banking solution for businesses
- American Express Debuts Agentic Commerce Experiences (ACE)™ Developer Kit and Announces Industry-First Protection for Registered Agent Purchases
- American Express to Acquire Hyper, Adding to Its AI Expertise and Expense Management Capabilities
- Amex tries to 'grease the skids' for agentic commerce
- 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
- #29 Carol Juel's human-centered bet on the future of AI
- 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
- Klarna AI assistant handles two-thirds of customer service chats in its first month
- Klarna Q2'26 Earnings Release (Exhibit 99.2 to Form 6-K)
- Introducing Adyen Uplift: The payment solution optimizing every transaction with AI
- Chapter 2: The agentic paradox
- JPMorgan Chase & Co. Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025
- Barclays Completes Acquisition of Best Egg
- Barclays PLC Interim Results Announcement 30 June 2026 (Form 6-K)
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