Our 2025 Banking Barometer is live — our third comprehensive benchmark of UK banks, building societies, and fintechs. This year is bigger and more useful for three reasons: we've gone beyond ESG to include broader business strategy and AI maturity; we've built an interactive webapp so you can slice and dice the data; and the analytical engine was supercharged by a summer intern who brought rigorous statistical modelling and serious technical nous.
Why this matters now
Leaders are being pulled in multiple directions — not least tightening sustainability expectations and the AI wave. Articulating clear strategic priorities that withstand scrutiny can help navigate the noise; failure to do so adds to the drag. Our Barometer distils how 57 UK institutions (from local building societies to global banks) are actually responding, based on what they disclose in their annual reports.
At a glance
Regulation continues to drive up sustainability disclosure page count, but underlying approaches are also maturing. Financed emissions reporting is rising, and firms would be wise to keep an eye on business travel emissions intensity, which is creeping upwards. More credible targets are growing, especially interim milestones (fintechs have made a big push here). Strategy articulation is uneven: big banks look polished; fintechs punchy; building societies risk losing ground. AI is a big divider: lots of noise from some, nothing from others, and evidence of a strategic approach evident in only a few.
Five findings in detail
General ESG: more pages, more substance. The average sustainability section in annual reports is now 21 pages (up from 16). Much of the uplift comes from CSRD-driven reporting by Irish banks — an early signal for UK institutions preparing for UK Sustainability Reporting Standards. Transition plans are moving mainstream: 90% of full-service banks now have climate transition plans (33% of challengers and specialists). Nature-related investment activity is quietly ticking up, while use of carbon credits to offset emissions is declining.
Greenhouse gas emissions: financed emissions in focus, travel creeps up. 49% of banks now report financed emissions, up 12 percentage points year-on-year. Scope 1 and 2 emissions continue to fall. The surprise riser: business travel emissions intensity, particularly among fintechs.
Climate targets: steadier, more credible, more near-term. 65% of banks now have net zero targets (vs 34% last year), increasingly standardised to 2050. The real quality shift is in interim targets — especially among fintechs, signalling operational maturity and, we suspect, pre-IPO discipline. Three principles for FY25 reporting: proportionality (tailor your ambition to your business model); pragmatism (if you need to change approach, do); openness (if you retire targets, explain why transparently).
Business strategy: parallel strategies may cause drag. Many banks articulate a focused set of strategic priorities; weaknesses include vague timelines and parallel, unintegrated strategies (e.g. sustainability or technology running separately from the core plan). Larger banks generally score higher on our strategy communication framework. Controlling for size, fintechs outperform on clarity and ambition while building societies tend to underperform.
AI maturity: the big divide. One in four banks made no mention of AI in their FY24 annual reports. And 84% showed no evidence of strategic thinking about AI beyond narrow cost efficiency. We view AI as a general-purpose technology that will reshape customer experience, risk, operations, and growth models. The absence of commentary about strategic AI capability building — talent, data foundations, governance, model risk — is a risk that will widen over the next reporting cycle.
How to use the Barometer
Use it to benchmark where you're ahead, where there are gaps to close, and where to focus future efforts. The interactive Data Explorer lets you build your own custom views and analysis. Explore the full report or get in touch to discuss the findings and what they mean for your institution.
