The SetpointHQ Index · Sector hub · Last updated 13 July 2026
UK banking employer brands, scored for AI visibility.
Every week we score UK banking’s 9 biggest employer brands, Barclays to Nationwide, on how visible they are to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity. Current scores and findings below.
Key findings, July 2026
- Barclays leads the sector, and most of the Index, at 74.3: the strongest citation score in banking (50) on top of schema at 75 and perfect crawlability.
- The gap to 2nd place is 19 points. Lloyds Banking Group (55.3) heads a tightly packed middle: 4 brands within 2.3 points of each other.
- The sector median is 53.0 against an Index median of 52.8, with a citation median of 25: household names, rarely named.
- 2 brands run on zero structured data. TSB Bank and Nationwide Building Society both score 0 on schema; Standard Chartered sits at 5.
The scores
| Brand | Composite | Citation | Schema | Knowledge graph | Crawlability | Social |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barclays | 74.3 | 50.0 | 75 | 98.7 | 100 | 80 |
| Lloyds Banking Group | 55.3 | 28.8 | 25 | 96.2 | 100 | 72 |
| Metro Bank | 54.6 | 15.0 | 70 | 82.5 | 85 | 68 |
| NatWest | 53.2 | 22.5 | 45 | 94.2 | 68 | 80 |
| HSBC | 53.0 | 33.1 | 30 | 100 | 60 | 76 |
| Santander UK | 48.2 | 21.3 | 25 | 77.2 | 85 | 76 |
| Standard Chartered | 48.0 | 17.5 | 5 | 98.3 | 100 | 74 |
| TSB Bank | 44.5 | 20.0 | 0 | 79.8 | 100 | 70 |
| Nationwide Building Society | 38.0 | 20.0 | 0 | 83.7 | 48.7 | 74 |
Composite out of 100. Latest weekly run: 12 July 2026.
One finding per brand
- Barclays is the benchmark: 74.3 composite and banking’s only 50 citation score. Even so, our probes found it absent from “most innovative banking employer” answers on 2 of 4 assistants: leadership is relative, not safe.
- Lloyds Banking Group takes 2nd on fame and crawlability, with schema at 25 holding it below its potential.
- Metro Bank has banking’s 2nd-best structured data (70) and its lowest citation score (15): the challenger brand problem, machine-readable but not yet machine-recommended.
- NatWest is even across the board with no standout dimension: mid-table by design rather than misfortune.
- HSBC holds a perfect 100 knowledge graph score and the sector’s 2nd-best citation (33.1), dragged by crawlability at 60.
- Santander UK has the sector’s weakest knowledge graph (77.2) among the big names: entity hygiene is its cheapest win.
- Standard Chartered pairs a 98.3 knowledge graph with schema at 5: known everywhere, structured nowhere.
- TSB Bank runs on zero structured data with perfect crawlability: the crawlers can get in, and find nothing to take.
- Nationwide Building Society props up the sector at 38.0, with schema 0 and the sector’s only sub-50 crawlability score.
How the scoring works
We probe all 4 major assistants weekly with real candidate questions and score 5 dimensions: citation (are you named), schema (structured data), knowledge graph (entity presence), crawlability (can AI crawlers reach you) and social footprint. Week 1 analysis: the banking sector report. Methodology and all 100 brands: The SetpointHQ Index. To move your own scores, start with how to show up in AI answers.
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Book the auditSource: The SetpointHQ Index, 100 UK employer brands, scored weekly.