Barclays CEO sees ‘rich prospects’ in US consumer finance

Barclays will buy US personal loan originator Best Egg for $800 million, the British bank said on Tuesday, as it tries to add scale in its personal banking business in the United States.

The deal shows British lenders’ continued appetite for acquisitions after a run of strong results, following on from HSBC’s (HSBA.L) agreement to buy out Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, NatWest’s (NWG.L) acquisition of the banking arm of retailer Sainsbury’s and Nationwide’s takeover of rival Virgin Money.

Best Egg originates consumer loans via an online platform, facilitating over $40 billion of loans for two million customers since its launch in 2013. The loans are funded through structures including securitisation and are backed by alternative asset managers, Barclays said, adding it expected to continue the model.

“The deep and sophisticated US consumer finance market offers rich prospects for growth at Barclays,” CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan said.

Barclays said the deal will help it build scale in the US market, where its personal banking presence lags much bigger incumbent domestic banks.

Barclays said the deal will diversify its income by adding more capital-light servicing fees as opposed to interest income and interchange fees. Best Egg currently services about $11 billion in personal loans, it added.

Barclays last week announced a surprise 500 million pound share buyback and upgraded a key profitability target for the year, as its income and cost-cutting progress outweighed fresh provisions and underperformance in its investment bank.

Barclays said it expects the deal to close in the second quarter of 2026, after the completion of the previously announced sale of its American Airlines co-branded credit card receivables.