RFI Global reveals UK Banking & Finance Awards 2026 winners

EMBARGO: 4.00 pm - Thursday 19 March 2026

London - RFI Global, the leading insights provider for the financial services industry, has today announced the winners of its UK Banking & Finance Awards 2026, recognising the financial institutions delivering the strongest customer experiences in an increasingly competitive and digitally driven market.  

Unlike traditional industry-judged awards, the winners are determined entirely by the voice of the customer. Winners are selected using insights from more than 16,000 UK consumers and 4,500 businesses annually, alongside thousands of real customer app interactions captured through RFI Global's iSky Radar platform.  

The awards come at a time of significant change in UK financial services. Throughout 2025, digital transformation continued to accelerate, with mobile banking firmly established as the primary channel for customer interaction, while artificial intelligence became increasingly embedded in everyday financial management. At the same time, business and retail customers became more discerning, more digitally engaged and more willing to switch providers in pursuit of better value and experiences.

Award highlights

This year's winners demonstrate strong customer engagement, a clear focus on innovation, and a consistent ability to meet rapidly evolving expectations. Stand-out performers include:

• Starling Bank delivered an exceptional performance across consumer and business banking, leading the market on customer advocacy, trust and innovation. The bank achieved the highest main-bank Net Promoter Score (NPS) overall and demonstrated consistent strength across key relationship metrics.
• Nationwide Building Society reaffirmed its leadership among major UK retail banking providers, excelling in customer advocacy, service quality and product strength. Customers particularly value its branch access, high-quality in-person service and competitive, easy-to-understand product offering.
• Barclays delivered a standout performance across consumer and business banking, leading the market among affluent customers, setting the benchmark for frictionless digital experiences, and demonstrating strong sector expertise for SMEs.
• Revolut was recognised for its market-leading digital engagement, delivering top-rated consumer and business app experiences, highly compelling rewards propositions and strong advocacy among savings customers.
• HSBC won two business banking awards for mid-market businesses and service quality, reflecting its strong sector expertise and high service standards, and First Direct won the Most Recommended Current Account award, achieving the highest current account NPS in the market.
• Digital experience award winners reflected an increasingly competitive landscape, with high-street leaders Barclays and Lloyds recognised alongside digital-only providers Revolut and Monzo, demonstrating that both established banks and challengers are now delivering best-in-class mobile experiences.

Matt Lawrence, RFI Global's Chief Executive Officer, said, 

"UK customers are more digitally engaged than ever before, and their expectations continue to rise. The institutions recognised in our awards stand out for delivering consistent, high-quality experiences across channels, combining innovation with trust and strong customer outcomes. Their success reflects a clear ability to translate deep customer insight into meaningful, differentiated propositions. Congratulations to all of this year's winners for setting the benchmark for customer-centric performance."

A total of 32 awards were presented, celebrating overall performance, brand, customer experience, digital excellence and product innovation. See the full list of winners here.

ENDS.

About RFI Global

RFI Global is the only global data and insights company focusing exclusively on financial services. It empowers financial services leaders with the market intelligence they need to drive innovation and accelerate growth. Partnering with the world's top financial institutions, its expert team delivers tailored insights through a unique hybrid syndicated research model, drawing on more than 200,000 consumer and 60,000 business interviews annually, plus thousands of real customer app and website interactions.  

About Orion consumer surveys

RFI Global's UK Consumer Banking Study, Orion, provides an in-depth view of key retail banking trends and consumer finances. Based on interviews with 4,000 banked consumers aged 18 and over each quarter, the survey delivers comprehensive insights into financial relationships, product holdings, customer experience, behaviours, needs and preferences.  

About Business Council surveys

RFI Global surveys financial decision-makers in 4,500 UK businesses each year about their banking ​​needs, preferences and behaviours. Informed twice a year by 2,000 SMEs (turnover up to £50m), 2,000 merchants (card accepting businesses) and 500 mid-market enterprises (£50-£500m), they deliver authoritative intelligence across business banking, payments and merchant acceptance.  

About iSky Radar

iSky is a global leader in digital user experience intelligence for financial services. Through its Radar platform, it combines detailed journey mapping with robust performance benchmarking, providing a unique view of the evolving digital customer experience based on thousands of real consumer and business interactions.

For more information or to speak with the team, contact: pr@rfi.global