Barclays and Natwest set for bidding war in race to beef up wealth arms
Barclays and Natwest are set for a bidding war as the banks prepare to make their play to snap up Evelyn Partners amid the race to beef up wealth management arms.
The blue-chip lenders are both gearing up to table offers of over £2bn for the London-based wealth manager.
A successful takeover would help enhance either bank’s presence in the wealth landscape, with Britain’s banking giants eager to grab a greater slice of this market.
Natwest already has a strong presence through its Coutts division whilst Barclays has doubled down on its private bank division, where total income reached £697m in the first half of 2025.
Both firms are expected to make a formal offer by Thursday, according to Sky News, with speculation also surrounding Royal Bank of Canada for a bid.
UK banks have staged major pivots towards the wealth sector in the last year as a source of reliable income as the Bank of England takes the chop to interest rates, which fell by one per cent last year.
The division offers lenders a less volatile and capital-light source of income, due to its reliance on recurring fees rather than the interest rate fluctuations that affect traditional lending.
Banks eye wealth push
A move from Barclays or Natwest would follow their FTSE 100 peers Lloyds and HSBC taking major steps in the last year to ramp up their wealth market share.
Lloyds acquired the remaining 49.9 per cent of Schroders Personal Wealth (SPW) from the asset manager, handing the bank sole control of the previous joint-venture.
Earlier this year, Lloyds’ wealth push faced a disruption after Jo Harris, the chief executive of the bank’s mass affluent division, departed within days of the launch of its new service.
At HSBC, Georges Elhedery has laid out ambitious plans to double the groups’ assets under management to £100bn within five years as it aims to become a top five player in the wealth manager scene.
The European banking giant – which took the crown as the City’s most valuable firm last month -has also splashed $5bn on a new luxury wealth centre in the heart of London to target the mass-affluent.