HUMAN CAPITAL PULSE: BANKING · ISSUE 2 · FEBRUARY 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.
Editor's note
February was a leadership month in banking. HSBC signalled a harder line on underperformance, the UK's big three paid their chief executives markedly more after strong profits, and Standard Chartered's chief executive committed to staying after his likely successor left. Each raises the same question for People teams: what do employees think of the leaders setting the tone? Median Supportive Leadership sentiment improved in 2025, but from a low base.
Leroy Hall, Deltabase
The month in three
1. HSBC readies little or zero bonuses for underperformers
What happened: Bloomberg reported on 5 February that HSBC is preparing to hand some bankers little or zero bonuses, and to encourage underperformers in divisions including investment banking and wealth management to leave soon after payouts, including at managing director level. It said no final decisions had been made.
The Deltabase lens: Culture: HSBC's Pay & Rewards NSS improved from +11.1% to +22.4% in 2025 (2,586 reviews), but Career Progression fell from −53.8% to −59.8%. Workforce: Investment Services roles make up 8.8% of HSBC's workforce, the highest share among the UK banks we track.
So what: A sharper performance culture needs credible career paths alongside it, or it reads as cost-cutting by another name.
2. Bank bosses' pay rises as bonus pools grow
What happened: Sky News reported on 13 February that Barclays chief executive CS Venkatakrishnan's 2025 package rose 29% to more than £15m, NatWest's Paul Thwaite received awards up 33% to £6.6m and Lloyds' Charlie Nunn £7.4m, up 32%. Bonus pools rose 15% to £2.2bn at Barclays, 11% to £495m at NatWest and 10% to £405m at Lloyds.
The Deltabase lens: Culture: Employee views of their own leaders vary widely: Supportive Leadership NSS in 2025 was −7.5% at NatWest Group, −18.1% at Barclays and −38.1% at Lloyds, where it fell from −26.2%.
So what: Executive pay headlines land differently where employees already rate their managers poorly; brief line managers before results day.
3. Standard Chartered's CFO exit puts succession in focus
What happened: Reuters reported on 24 February that Bill Winters, chief executive since 2015, plans to present a new strategy in May and see it through, after finance chief Diego De Giorgi, seen as his likely successor, left for Apollo. Winters said the board wants him to see the strategy through "in terms of my own succession".
The Deltabase lens: Workforce: Deltabase Employee Turnover data shows Standard Chartered made 90 senior hires in 2025, against 82 at Lloyds and 168 at Barclays. Talent: Business Development skills are held by 8.7% of its workforce, the highest share among ten banks.
So what: Succession risk sits below the CEO too; know how deep your senior bench is before a departure tests it.
Stat of the month
−18.4%: median Supportive Leadership NSS across ten Top 100 banks in 2025, up from −25.0% in 2024, though only five of the ten improved.
| Company | Culture: Supportive Leadership NSS, 2024 | Culture: Supportive Leadership NSS, 2025 | Talent: share with change management skills |
|---|
| NatWest Group | −3.3% | −7.5% | 7.5% |
| Barclays | −26.9% | −18.1% | 7.0% |
| HSBC | −20.7% | −18.6% | 5.2% |
| JPMorgan Chase | −18.0% | −24.6% | 4.0% |
| Wells Fargo | −30.7% | −35.2% | 4.5% |
| Lloyds Banking Group | −26.2% | −38.1% | 10.4% |
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 Talent data, share of workforce listing change management skills.
Spotlight: HSBC vs Barclays
On Culture, Barclays moved ahead in 2025, rising from −1.1% to +2.2% (2,081 reviews) while HSBC improved more modestly to −2.6% (2,586). Supportive Leadership is almost identical, at −18.6% and −18.1%, but Career Progression is weaker at HSBC (−59.8% against −49.6%). The Workforce shapes differ: Tech accounts for 18.0% of Barclays' workforce against 11.5% at HSBC, and in Customer functions 49.6% of HSBC's people are entry level against 34.3% at Barclays. On Talent, 7.0% of HSBC's workforce lists AI skills, against 3.8% at Barclays. January turnover was 0.61% at HSBC and 0.53% at Barclays.
For your People team
- Put Supportive Leadership and Career Progression NSS on the same page as performance-management changes, so the board sees both.
- Prepare managers for pay-season questions, especially where leadership sentiment is below the sector median.
- Test the depth of your senior bench: senior hires, internal moves and tenure in leadership roles against peers.
See how your Human Capital compares with your Banking peers. Book a 30-minute benchmark walkthrough across culture, workforce and talent. Book a walkthrough →
Sources: Bloomberg (5 February 2026); Sky News via MKFM (13 February 2026); Reuters via Tiger Brokers (24 February 2026); Deltabase Culture data; Deltabase Workforce data; Deltabase Talent data; Deltabase Employee Turnover data.