Treasury’s stake in NatWest falls below 5%
The banking group has said it expects to return to private ownership by the middle of this year.
The Government’s holding in NatWest has fallen below 5%, more than 16 years after the bank was bailed out by taxpayers.
NatWest said on Thursday that the Treasury’s stake fell to 4.82% after selling more shares.
The banking group is expecting to return to private ownership by the middle of this year.
It received multibillion-pound bailouts funded by taxpayers during the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009, leaving the Government with an 84% stake in what was then known as Royal Bank of Scotland.
At the end of 2023, the shareholding was at 40%, but the Treasury has since been whittling down that stake as it accelerated efforts to return it to private hands.
A NatWest spokesperson said: “Returning the bank to full private ownership is an ambition we share with the Government, and one that we believe is in the interests of all our shareholders.”
Chief executive Paul Thwaite said he is “optimistic about the opportunities ahead of us to grow our business as a vital and trusted partner to our customers and the UK itself”.
It comes after the Government ceased to be the bank’s biggest shareholder at the end of February when its stake fell below 6%.
It is understood that this puts its stake below that of investment group BlackRock.
Mr Thwaite had previously called the milestone a “symbolic” moment and “means we can talk about the future of the bank… rather than having to talk about its past”.
NatWest made an operating pre-tax profit of £6.2 billion in 2024, and handed out about £467 million in bonuses across eligible staff during the year.
This was a quarter higher than the 2023 bonus pool, which the bank attributed to achieving a stronger financial performance.
