Who are NatWest Group plc's competitors, and what are the alternatives?
NatWest Group, with 19 million retail customers, a 16.5% share of UK current accounts and what it calls the UK's biggest bank for business, says competition is coming from every corner: from rapidly evolving incumbents, challengers, new entrants and technology conglomerates. In retail its largest rival is Lloyds, the UK's largest mortgage lender and largest digital bank; Nationwide became Britain's second-largest lender in mortgages and retail deposits after buying Virgin Money; and HSBC benchmarks its deposit franchise against NatWest and Lloyds. The non-bank pressure is clearest in customer satisfaction: in the CMA-mandated service quality survey published in August 2026, Monzo (79%) and Starling (76%) ranked first and second for personal current accounts, and Monzo, Starling and NatWest's own Mettle took the top three places for business current accounts. Revolut launched its UK bank in March 2026, and OakNorth, a specialist lender to growing businesses, reported £2.8 billion of gross originations in 2025. In wealth NatWest bought Evelyn Partners and aims to be the UK's number one chosen partner for private banking and wealth, against Lloyds, which is integrating Schroders Personal Wealth, and HSBC, which is reported to be cutting most of its UK financial advisers as it uses AI. In cards, NatWest's share rose to 11% in 2025.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]
Data as of Oct 20, 2026 · NatWest profile updated Oct 13, 2026 · computed tables recalculate from the 140 bank profiles on this site · Markdown
What does NatWest say about its competition?
NatWest Group plc 2025 Annual Report and Accounts (February 13, 2026), Chair's statement: "In an environment where competition is coming from every corner, we need a bank that is agile, adaptable and able to innovate at pace – while shaping the future responsibly." The strategic report adds: "Our sector is evolving at pace, with customer expectations increasing, technology redefining what 'best in class' looks like, and competition more intense than ever."[1]
Principal risks, "Increased competition": "Competitive pressures could intensify, impeding NatWest Group's ability to grow or retain market share, impacting revenues and profitability, particularly in the UK Retail Banking and Commercial & Institutional segments. Drivers of competition mainly relate to developments in technology, evolving incumbents, challengers, new entrants to the market, shifts in customer behaviour and changes in regulation. For example, increased competition from technology conglomerates, who may have competitive advantages in scale, technology and customer engagement (including brand recognition)."[1]
The risk factors add: "NatWest Group may be unable to grow or retain market share due to new (or more competitive) banking, lending and payment offerings by rapidly evolving incumbents and challengers (including shadow banks, alternative or direct lenders and new entrants)", and on AI: "There can be no certainty that NatWest Group's innovation strategy will be successful, and competitors may be more successful in implementing AI technologies, in turn, affecting industry competitive dynamics."[1]
On its own position the report lists a "16.5% share of current accounts", "The biggest bank for business in the UK, and one of the leading banks for UK start-ups", service to "one in every five small and mid-market businesses across the UK", and a credit card market share that "has increased by one percentage point to 11%". It also notes that NatWest Retail's NPS "remained in 4th place in a competitive market" and that Mettle ranked "second overall" in the Competition and Markets Authority satisfaction survey.[1]
Who competes with NatWest in each of its businesses?
| Business line | Competitor | Type | Why it competes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current accounts and savings | Lloyds Banking Group | Bank | Lloyds calls itself the UK's largest digital bank, with about 21.5 million active app users and about 85% of current accounts opened in its app; its annual report names high street banks focused on share growth among its competitors.[2] |
| Current accounts and savings | Nationwide Building Society | Other | Reuters reported that buying Virgin Money made Nationwide Britain's second-largest lender in mortgages and retail deposits; it tied for third (75%) for overall service quality among personal current account providers in the August 2026 CMA-mandated survey.[3][5] |
| Current accounts and savings | Monzo | Fintech | Monzo ranked first for overall service quality for both personal (79%) and business (85%) current accounts in the August 2026 CMA-mandated survey, and had 15.2 million personal and business customers at March 31, 2026.[5][9] |
| Current accounts and savings | Starling | Fintech | Starling ranked second for overall service quality for personal (76%) and business (83%) current accounts in the August 2026 survey, ahead of every high-street bank.[5] |
| Current accounts and savings | Revolut | Fintech | Revolut launched its UK bank on March 11, 2026 and reported 68.3 million retail customers worldwide in its 2025 annual report; NatWest's annual report names new entrants and challengers among the drivers of competition.[6][10][1] |
| Current accounts and savings | Barclays | Bank | Barclays' UK bank serves more than 20 million retail customers and is one of the 17 largest personal current account providers in the CMA-mandated survey, where it ranked 8th= (61%) in August 2026.[11][5] |
| Current accounts and savings | Santander UK | Bank | Santander is one of the 17 largest personal current account providers surveyed for the CMA, and its UK bank is rolling out AI in voice channels to resolve about 240,000 card calls a year through self-service.[5][12] |
| Current accounts and savings | HSBC (HSBC UK) | Bank | HSBC's May 2026 investor seminar benchmarks its deposit franchise against a peer set that includes NatWest Group and Lloyds Banking Group alongside Asian banks.[4] |
| Mortgages | Lloyds (Halifax) | Bank | Lloyds calls itself the UK's largest mortgage lender with an 18.9% share of gross lending in 2025 and £17 billion lent to first-time buyers.[2] |
| Mortgages | Nationwide (mortgages) | Other | Nationwide became Britain's second-largest mortgage lender after completing its Virgin Money acquisition in October 2024, with more than £370 billion of assets, Reuters reported.[3] |
| Business banking and SME lending | Monzo Business | Fintech | Monzo ranked first for overall service quality among business current account providers (85%) in the August 2026 CMA-mandated survey, ahead of Starling and NatWest's Mettle; NatWest serves one in every five small and mid-market businesses.[5][1] |
| Business banking and SME lending | Starling (business) | Fintech | Starling ranked second for business current account service quality (83%) and extended its agentic assistant to all business customers in August 2026.[5][13] |
| Business banking and SME lending | OakNorth | Fintech | OakNorth, a specialist lender to growing businesses, reported £223 million of pre-tax profit and £2.8 billion of gross originations in 2025; NatWest's annual report names alternative or direct lenders among the challengers it faces.[7][1] |
| Business banking and SME lending | Lloyds (Commercial Banking) | Bank | Lloyds' Commercial Banking serves small and medium businesses and corporate clients with a digital-first model, and uses a Gen AI application to simplify commercial real estate lending.[2] |
| Private banking and wealth (Coutts, Evelyn Partners) | Lloyds (Schroders Personal Wealth) | Bank | Lloyds completed its acquisition of Schroders Personal Wealth, to be rebranded Lloyds Wealth, to deepen relationships in high-value segments, the market NatWest targets with Evelyn Partners and Coutts.[2][1] |
| Private banking and wealth (Coutts, Evelyn Partners) | HSBC (UK wealth) | Bank | The Financial Times reported in October 2026 that HSBC plans to remove about half of management and specialist roles and around 70% of financial advisers in UK wealth management as it uses AI; NatWest aims to be the UK's number one chosen partner for private banking and wealth.[8][1] |
How do the AI and digital offerings of NatWest's competitors compare?
NatWest 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| NatWest Group plc (this page) | Cora and the internal GenAI stack[1][14][15][16][17][18] | Index 75.1 (#35); 19 use cases, 11 in production | Evident AI Index places NatWest 17th (Oct 6, 2026)[19] |
| Lloyds Banking Group | AI financial assistant with more than 500,000 Bank of Scotland customers; Envoy agents on fraud calls[20][21] | Index 83.6 (#13); 19 use cases, 11 in production | Evident AI index 2026: 15th again (Oct 6, 2026)[22] |
| Nationwide Building Society | Not disclosed | No profile | Not disclosed |
| Monzo | AI self-service handles 62% of inbound chats and resolves 55% of them[9] | 9 use cases, 8 in production | EU CEO Michael Carney to step down (Sep 22, 2026)[23] |
| Starling | Starling Assistant, an agentic in-app assistant for personal and business customers[24][13] | 7 use cases, 6 in production | Starling Assistant for business (Aug 24, 2026)[13] |
| Revolut | AIR (AI by Revolut)[25][26][27] | 7 use cases, 5 in production | OCC grants conditional approval for a US national bank charter (Sep 3, 2026)[28][29] |
| Barclays | Colleague Knowledge Assistant on Claude for 16,000-plus UK colleagues[11] | Index 76 (#31); 20 use cases, 13 in production | Co-COO on model choice and agentic AI (Oct 1, 2026)[30] |
| Santander UK | Group Data & AI function inside ONE Transformation, with a multi-provider model stack[12][31][32] | Index 71.3 (#46); 19 use cases, 11 in production | Santander AI Lab releases the A2K protocol suite (Sep 23, 2026)[33] |
| HSBC (HSBC UK) | About 85% of colleagues enabled with a gen-AI tool; HSBCnio lets clients' own AI tools reach account data[34][35] | Index 88.5 (#6); 21 use cases, 9 in production | AI-agent micropayment test with Ant Digital (Oct 9, 2026)[36] |
| Lloyds (Halifax) | Envoy agent platform, Microsoft 365 E7 and the Group LLM platform[37][21][38][39] | Index 83.6 (#13); 19 use cases, 11 in production | Evident AI index 2026: 15th again (Oct 6, 2026)[22] |
| Nationwide (mortgages) | Not disclosed | No profile | Not disclosed |
| Monzo Business | Monzo Ops Agent and Fincrime Agent[40][41][9] | 9 use cases, 8 in production | EU CEO Michael Carney to step down (Sep 22, 2026)[23] |
| Starling (business) | Starling Assistant[24][13][42] | 7 use cases, 6 in production | Starling Assistant for business (Aug 24, 2026)[13] |
| OakNorth | Machine-learning credit models; OpenAI custom GPTs in deal structuring and term drafting[43] | 6 use cases, 6 in production | Federal Reserve re-notices the restructured holding-company application (Jun 5, 2026)[44] |
| Lloyds (Commercial Banking) | Envoy agent platform, Microsoft 365 E7 and the Group LLM platform[37][21][38][39] | Index 83.6 (#13); 19 use cases, 11 in production | Evident AI index 2026: 15th again (Oct 6, 2026)[22] |
| Lloyds (Schroders Personal Wealth) | Envoy agent platform, Microsoft 365 E7 and the Group LLM platform[37][21][38][39] | Index 83.6 (#13); 19 use cases, 11 in production | Evident AI index 2026: 15th again (Oct 6, 2026)[22] |
| HSBC (UK wealth) | HSBC Productivity Suite and the central AI platform[45][46][47][48][49] | Index 88.5 (#6); 21 use cases, 9 in production | AI-agent micropayment test with Ant Digital (Oct 9, 2026)[36] |
Who should look beyond NatWest, and where?
| If you are | Look at | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Customers who rank service quality first | Monzo, Starling or Nationwide | In the CMA-mandated survey published in August 2026, Monzo (79%), Starling (76%) and Nationwide (75%, joint third) led for overall personal current account service quality; NatWest's annual report says NatWest Retail remained fourth on NPS in a competitive market.[5][1] |
| Small businesses that want the highest-rated business account | Monzo or Starling (or NatWest's own Mettle) | Monzo (85%), Starling (83%) and Mettle (82%) took the top three places for business current account service quality in August 2026; Mettle is NatWest's digital-only proposition for the self-employed.[5][1] |
| Home buyers looking for the largest mortgage lender | Lloyds (Halifax) | Lloyds calls itself the UK's largest mortgage lender, with an 18.9% share of gross lending in 2025; Nationwide is second after buying Virgin Money.[2][3] |
| Growing businesses that want a specialist lender | OakNorth | OakNorth lends to growing businesses and reported £2.8 billion of gross originations in 2025, up 33%, with cumulative principal losses of 0.045% over ten years.[7] |
| Customers who spend abroad and want an app built around multi-currency use | Revolut | Revolut launched its UK bank in March 2026 after leaving mobilisation. NatWest's annual report says payment offerings by challengers and new entrants could limit its ability to grow or retain market share.[6][1] |
How do NatWest's rivals rank on the CMA-mandated service quality survey?
Independent Ipsos survey of about 1,000 customers per provider (personal) and 1,200 (business), July 2025 to June 2026, published August 2026. The published extract shows the top five and the publishing bank only.
| Rank | Personal current accounts (overall) | Business current accounts (overall) | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monzo, 79% | Monzo, 85% | Digital-only[5] |
| 2 | Starling, 76% | Starling, 83% | Digital-only[5] |
| 3 | Nationwide and first direct, 75% each | Mettle (NatWest), 82% | Mettle is NatWest's digital-only proposition for the self-employed[5][1] |
| 4-5 | Chase, 68% (5th) | Handelsbanken, 78% (4th); Tide, 69% (5th=) | Barclays, the publishing bank, ranked 8th= (personal) and 13th= (business)[5] |
How do the AI assistants of NatWest's rivals compare with Cora?
| Provider | Assistant | What it does | Since |
|---|---|---|---|
| NatWest | Cora, with GenAI journeys and agentic spending insights | 12.9 million conversations in 2025; spending insights piloted with 25,000 customers on OpenAI models | Cora+ GenAI upgrade June 2024[1][15][50] |
| Lloyds | AI financial assistant | Personalised guidance on spending and savings for more than 500,000 Bank of Scotland customers | Announced November 2025[51][20] |
| Starling | Starling Assistant | Agentic in-app assistant that responds to voice and natural language and can carry out banking tasks | March 20, 2026[24] |
| Revolut | AIR (AI by Revolut) | Conversational navigation of spending insights, investments, subscriptions and card controls | April 9, 2026 (UK)[25] |
| Monzo | AI self-service | Handles 62% of inbound customer chats and resolves 55% of them | FY2026 annual report[9] |
How do NatWest's market positions compare with Lloyds' and Nationwide's?
Figures as each bank or Reuters reported them. Measures differ, so read each row on its own.
| Market | NatWest | Named rival | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current accounts | 16.5% share; 19 million retail customers | Lloyds: UK's largest digital bank, c.21.5 million app users | Annual reports 2025[1][2] |
| Mortgages | Not stated as a share in the sources reviewed | Lloyds: largest lender, 18.9% gross lending share; Nationwide second | Lloyds annual report; Reuters[2][3] |
| Business banking | UK's biggest bank for business; one in five small and mid-market businesses; number one lender to UK infrastructure | Lloyds Commercial Banking; OakNorth (£2.8 billion of originations in 2025) | NatWest annual report; OakNorth results[1][2][7] |
| Credit cards | 11% share, up one point with Sainsbury's Bank balances | Not stated for rivals in these sources | NatWest annual report 2025[1] |
Who are NatWest's biggest competitors?
In UK retail banking, Lloyds, Nationwide, Barclays, HSBC UK and Santander UK, plus digital banks Monzo, Starling and Revolut. NatWest's own annual report names evolving incumbents, challengers, new entrants, alternative lenders and technology conglomerates as the drivers of competition.[1][3][5]
Is NatWest the biggest business bank in the UK?
NatWest says so: its 2025 annual report calls it the UK's biggest bank for business, serving one in every five small and mid-market businesses, and the number one lender to UK infrastructure. Its Mettle account ranked third for business current account service quality in August 2026.[1][5]
Is Monzo a competitor of NatWest?
Yes, in personal and business current accounts. Monzo ranked first for overall service quality for both in the CMA-mandated survey published in August 2026, and had 15.2 million personal and business customers at March 31, 2026.[5][9]
NatWest vs Lloyds: which is bigger?
Lloyds, by total assets: £994.2 billion at June 30, 2026 against NatWest's £745.4 billion. Lloyds is the larger mortgage lender and digital bank; NatWest has a 16.5% share of current accounts and calls itself the UK's biggest bank for business.[52][18][2][1]
Who competes with NatWest in wealth management?
Lloyds, which is integrating Schroders Personal Wealth as Lloyds Wealth, and HSBC, which the Financial Times reported in October 2026 plans to cut around 70% of its UK financial advisers as it uses AI. NatWest bought Evelyn Partners and owns Coutts, and aims to be the UK's number one chosen partner for private banking and wealth.[2][8][1]
Does NatWest see big tech as a competitor?
Yes. Its 2025 annual report cites competition from technology conglomerates that may have advantages in scale, technology and customer engagement, and warns that competitors may be more successful in implementing AI. NatWest also works with OpenAI and became the first UK bank with an app in ChatGPT in April 2026.[1][16][53]
Is Revolut a competitor of NatWest?
Yes. Revolut launched its UK bank on March 11, 2026 and its AIR assistant for UK customers in April 2026, and reported 68.3 million retail customers worldwide in its 2025 annual report. NatWest's annual report says new or more competitive banking, lending and payment offerings by challengers and new entrants could limit its market share.[6][25][10][1]
NatWest vs Barclays: who ranks higher on service and AI?
In the August 2026 CMA-mandated survey Barclays ranked 8th= for personal current account service quality (61%), while NatWest's Mettle ranked third for business accounts (82%). On Evident's October 2026 AI Index NatWest was 17th and Barclays 19th; on this site's index Barclays scores 76 and NatWest 75.1.[5][19]
What are alternatives to NatWest for small business banking?
Monzo and Starling ranked first and second for business current account service quality in August 2026, ahead of NatWest's own Mettle; specialist lenders such as OakNorth lend to growing businesses. Lloyds' Commercial Banking also serves SMEs with a digital-first model.[5][7][2]
- NatWest Group plc 2025 Annual Report and Accounts
- Lloyds Banking Group plc Annual Report and Accounts 2025
- Britain's Nationwide books surprisingly big $3 billion gain on Virgin Money deal
- A growing, high-returning HSBC: closing remarks, Asia seminar for investors and analysts
- Independent service quality survey results (personal and business current accounts, published August 2026)
- Revolut Launches UK Bank
- OakNorth 2025 Results: £223M Profit, 33% Origination Growth
- HSBC plans deep job cuts in UK wealth management amid AI push, FT reports
- Monzo Annual Report and Accounts 2026
- Revolut Group Holdings Ltd, Annual Report 2025
- Barclays scales Claude to upgrade operations and improve client experience
- Santander turns its AI-first strategy into measurable impact and extends AI access to all 185,000 employees
- Starling launches agentic AI assistant for business
- FY 2025 Results (equity investor slides, February 2026)
- NatWest Group first to unveil next generation of AI tools to help customers manage money and receive fraud support
- NatWest & OpenAI collaborate to accelerate cutting-edge AI transformation in support of bank-wide simplification and enhanced customer experience
- Deploying new generative AI technology to support our colleagues
- NatWest Group Interim Results 2026
- UBS only European bank in top 10 of AI adoption as JPMorgan Chase leads
- Lloyds targets more than 1,000 new AI roles as it expands agentic AI capability
- Lloyds Banking Group deploys agentic AI to strengthen real-time fraud protection
- UBS only European bank in top 10 of AI adoption as JPMorgan Chase leads
- Monzo's EU Chief Leaves Neobank to Launch Robotics Startup
- Starling launches UK's first Agentic AI financial assistant
- Revolut enters new era of money intelligence with launch of AI assistant
- Revolut Announces Launch of Dedicated AI Research Division: Revolut Research
- Revolut Rolls Out AI Assistant for Daily Financial Tasks
- 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
- The Most Powerful Women in Banking Women to Watch, #24, Anne Marie Darling, Barclays
- 2025 Annual report
- Driving our transformation with the creation of the Global Data & AI function
- A2K: a new protocol suite for connecting AI agents to governed, auditable enterprise knowledge
- Annual Results 2025 Presentation to Investors and Analysts
- HSBC launches HSBCnio digital banking solution for businesses
- Ant Digital Technologies and HSBC announce successful AI agent micropayment technical verification test
- Lloyds Banking Group unveils Envoy - a new platform for building AI agents safely at scale
- Lloyds Banking Group one of the first UK organisations to deploy Microsoft 365: The Frontier Suite
- Lloyds Banking Group: Improving customer experience with machine learning (undated page, retrieved 2026-10-05)
- Engineering the Future of Customer Operations: The Monzo Ops Agent
- Combining generative AI and predictive modelling to fight financial crime
- Starling to release weekly 'smart tools' that supercharge money management for millions of Brits
- OakNorth collaborates with OpenAI to strengthen its AI-led digital banking and deliver superior outcomes for lower middle-market businesses
- Formations of, Acquisitions by, and Mergers of Bank Holding Companies (OakNorth UK Holdings Limited / Community Unity Bank)
- Annual Report and Accounts 2025
- 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)
- NatWest launches Cora+, the latest generative AI upgrade to the bank's digital assistant
- Lloyds Banking Group unveils UK's first multi-feature AI-powered financial assistant
- Lloyds Banking Group plc 2026 Half-Year Results (news release)
- NatWest becomes first UK bank to launch home-buying guidance in ChatGPT
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