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NatWest chief executive Paul Thwaite has said the bank is likely to return to full private ownership next year, a move that would allow it to grow its wealth management business.
“It is reasonable to expect that absent some big dislocation or economic event we’ll be back in private ownership next year, maybe as early as the first half of the year,” said Thwaite, speaking at the FT global banking summit in London on Tuesday.
The UK government has cut its stake in the bank to less than 11 per cent, down from 38 per cent a year ago. The state has owned a stake in NatWest since its £46bn bailout of the bank during the global financial crisis, when it was known as RBS.
“I think it will be a symbolic moment for the sector,” said Thwaite. “It means we can talk about the future of the bank, the potential of the bank rather than having to talk about its past.”
Thwaite said that returning to private ownership would also allow NatWest to deploy capital more strategically, after the bank bought back some of the state’s shares this year. A particular area of focus would be growing the bank’s wealth management arm, which includes private bank Coutts, initially through organic growth, he said. He did not rule out acquisitions in future.
“The two transactions we’ve done this year have shown that we’re on the front foot and where we see interesting opportunities that deliver good financials, good strategic fit, then we’ll take them,” he said.
Under Thwaite, who initially took over as interim chief executive in July 2023 before being made permanent, NatWest has bought the bulk of Sainsbury’s Bank and £2.5bn of prime residential mortgages from Metro Bank.
The UK government had previously committed to returning the bank to private hands by 2025 or 2026. Labour also scrapped the previous government’s plans to sell NatWest shares to the public which were under way when it was elected in July and cost the bank £24mn.
Thwaite was broadly supportive of the Labour government’s Budget, announced in October. The government’s focus on planning, infrastructure and science would help support economic expansion in the medium term but UK regulators could do more to support growth, he said.
“I think there are levers that regulators can pull which don’t risk the stability of the system, don’t necessarily risk protection of consumers,” he said, in reference to areas such as the ringfencing regime and regulations on fraud and customer complaints.