HUMAN CAPITAL PULSE: BANKING · ISSUE 4 · APRIL 2026
A monthly Human Capital benchmark for HR and People leaders in Banking: the sector's talking points and how culture, workforce and talent compare across your peers, built on Deltabase data covering 5,500+ companies and 11M employee reviews.
April brought restructuring into sharper legal and regulatory focus. New Employment Rights Act measures doubled the maximum protective award for failing to consult on collective redundancies, analysts argued that AI is reshaping rather than shrinking bank workforces for now, and regulators trimmed the senior managers regime. The common thread for People teams is process, and employees' view of bank bureaucracy hardened in 2025.
Leroy Hall, Deltabase
What happened: From 6 April, the maximum protective award for failing to consult properly on collective redundancies rose from 90 to 180 days' pay per affected employee, as Statutory Sick Pay became a day-one right and the Fair Work Agency launched on 7 April, Citation reported.
The Deltabase lens: Workforce: The stakes scale with size: Deltabase Workforce data puts Barclays' headcount at 125,000 and Lloyds' at 69,500. Culture: Purpose NSS fell in 2025 at Lloyds (−39.2% to −53.2%) and NatWest Group (−25.0% to −63.6%), a weak starting point for any new programme.
So what: Treat consultation as a design step, not a legal checkbox; the cost of getting it wrong has doubled.
What happened: City AM reported on 10 April that Bloomberg Intelligence expects top European lenders' headcount to rise by an average of 4%, as AI displaces routine middle-office roles while driving demand for data science and engineering staff. The Banker found Standard Chartered cut 4.5% of staff and HSBC 4.3%.
The Deltabase lens: Workforce: Middle-office exposure varies: Governance, Risk & Compliance makes up 5.4% of Barclays' workforce, 4.9% of NatWest Group's and 2.8% of Wells Fargo's. Talent: Data science skills are listed by 4.5% of Goldman Sachs' workforce and 3.0% at JPMorgan Chase, against 1.9% at HSBC and 1.6% at NatWest.
So what: Realignment needs a skills bridge; identify which middle-office people could move into data roles before you hire externally.
What happened: The FCA and PRA confirmed on 22 April the first phase of reforms to the Senior Managers and Certification Regime, cutting certification roles by around 15% and giving firms up to 12 weeks to submit senior manager applications. The Treasury plans to remove the Certification Regime from legislation.
The Deltabase lens: Talent: Banks carry very different compliance depth: 11.9% of Citigroup's workforce lists compliance skills, 10.7% at Wells Fargo and 10.5% at Standard Chartered, against 6.0% at JPMorgan Chase. Culture: Median Empowered NSS across ten banks was −50.4% in 2025, barely changed from −50.2%.
So what: Less paperwork should free time for real accountability; check whether employees feel trusted to make decisions.
−77.1%: median Agility & Bureaucracy NSS across ten Top 100 banks in 2025, down from −68.8% in 2024, even as monthly turnover fell at every bank below.
| Company | Culture: Agility & Bureaucracy NSS, 2025 | Workforce: Transformation share of workforce | Workforce: avg monthly turnover, Jan–Mar 2026 (2025) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lloyds Banking Group | −88.2% | 4.1% | 0.64% (0.67%) |
| NatWest Group | −81.0% | 3.6% | 0.44% (0.54%) |
| Barclays | −79.0% | 2.6% | 0.50% (0.61%) |
| Wells Fargo | −76.8% | 2.2% | 0.73% (0.85%) |
| JPMorgan Chase | −69.1% | 1.9% | 0.60% (0.71%) |
Source: Deltabase Culture data, Employee Net Sentiment Score (−100% to +100%), 2024 and 2025; sector median of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest Group and Standard Chartered. Deltabase Workforce data, share of workforce in the Transformation function. Deltabase Employee Turnover data, average monthly turnover January–March 2026 (January–March 2025 in brackets).
Citigroup improved from −5.7% to −3.2% in 2025 (2,792 reviews), while Bank of America fell from +6.2% to +2.2% (2,286), still ahead. Career Progression weakened sharply at both, to −47.3% at Citi and −44.6% at Bank of America, but Citi leads on D&I (+29.9% against +9.1%). On Talent, Citi's workforce is more change-ready, with 5.1% listing transformation skills against 2.8%, while 10.1% at Bank of America list training skills against 6.8%. Neither has Deltabase Workforce data; Employee Turnover data shows average monthly turnover of 0.60% at Citi and 0.47% at Bank of America in January–March 2026, with median tenure of 5.6 and 6.9 years.
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Sources: Citation (1 April 2026); City AM (10 April 2026); Bank of England (22 April 2026); Deltabase Culture data; Deltabase Workforce data; Deltabase Talent data; Deltabase Employee Turnover data.