An offer of NatWest shares to the public would have formed part of the Government’s plans to eliminate its entire holding in the bank by 2026.
“The Government is committed to exiting its shareholding in NatWest, subject to market conditions and sales representing value for money,” official Autumn Statement documents stated.
“The Government intends to fully exit by 2025-26, utilising a range of disposal methods including accelerated bookbuilds [sales to institutions] and directed [share] buybacks with NatWest.”
The Government became the majority shareholder in what was then the Royal Bank of Scotland during the financial crisis, when it injected billions of pounds into the lender to prevent its collapse and the economic chaos that ministers feared as a consequence.
On Friday, NatWest shares were trading at 308p per share, down from a peak of 326p on May 15.
NatWest’s shares have rocketed by almost 40pc since January, as the bank recovers from last summer’s “debanking” scandal when Nigel Farage said he had been stripped of his account at Coutts, the NatWest subsidiary for the wealthy, because of his political views.
The scandal led to the departure of Dame Alison Rose, NatWest’s chief executive.
In February, Mr Farage said the bank was “not fit for a public sale of shares” until it had put its house in order, and said it would be “very, very difficult indeed” for a share sale to go ahead if the bank was in the middle of a messy and highly public legal battle with him.
A Treasury spokesman said: “A retail offer will not happen during the election period”.