
The Guardian UK 300: top banking, insurance and financial services employers
…as voted for by students and graduates
The Guardian UK 300 features the largest and most comprehensive annual survey of student opinion on graduate careers, employers and their own job hunts. The survey determines not only the most popular 300 graduate employers in the UK overall, but also the most popular graduate employers in a range of career sectors, including banking, insurance and financial services.
The top graduate employers for banking, insurance and financial services are listed in the table below. While the Bank of England retains its spot at the top of the table for another year, HSBC falls two spaces to fourth and HM Revenue & Customs and Barclays each climb one place.
Students interested in banking, insurance and financial services…
- rated status and prestige as an important factor when choosing an employer, more so than the average across all sectors: 45% rated it as ‘important’ and 21% rated as very important (the averages were 43% and 17% respectively)
- were likely to investigate an employer’s success in the market when choosing employers: 31% rated it as a very important factor (the average across all sectors was 26%)
- would probably pay particular attention to an employer’s office locations when choosing employers: 29% (versus a 26% average) thought an ‘attractive work location’ was ‘very important’, although students interested in this sector were slightly more willing than average to relocate during their graduate scheme.*
*Statistics have been rounded.
Over 73,500 undergraduates took part in the trendence Graduate Survey, which formed the basis of the results in The Guardian UK 300.

Bank of England
Last year: 1
Financial services and insurance

HM Revenue and Customs
Last year: 4
Public service, charity and social work
Last year: 5
Financial services and insurance, IT and technology, Media, journalism and publishing
Last year: 6
Accountancy and financial management, Financial services and insurance, Insurance, Retail banking, Investment banking and investment, Risk management & control
Last year: 9
Accountancy and financial management, Financial services and insurance, Investment banking and investment
View related sector lists: Top accounting and financial management graduate employers and Top investment banking and investment graduate employers
More help from TARGETjobs
- TARGETjobs Finance homepage
- Specialist advice on graduate careers in financial services and insurance
- Get the Inside Buzz on graduate recruiters: graduate and intern employer reviews