Natwest set to return to full non-public possession in first half of subsequent yr after 2008 taxpayer rescue

Natwest will return to full private ownership in the first half of next year. Chief executive Paul Thwaite said it would be a ‘symbolic moment’ for banking.

He said it would be the ‘closing of another chapter’ for the industry after the lender – then known as Royal Bank of Scotland – became the most visible UK victim of the global financial crisis in 2008.

Rescued by the taxpayer, it was at one point 84 per cent state-owned but the stake has gradually been sold down and has now shrunk to less than 11 per cent.

Thwaite told the Financial Times Global Banking Summit: ‘I think we’re on a very fast trajectory to private ownership and I’m very proud of that.’

Asked whether he would celebrate, he said: ‘I probably should take a moment at the time but I’m so focused on what we can do with the bank for the future.’

Natwest shares rose 0.3 per cent to 407.7p – the highest level since 2011. They are up nearly 90 per cent this year and have more than doubled since last autumn. 

New chapter: Natwest, led by chief exec Paul Thwaite (pictured), became the most visible UK victim of the global financial crisis in 2008

Thwaite also revealed the bank would look at ‘financially compelling’ takeover opportunities as it builds up cash.

He cast doubt on how the Government would achieve its growth ambitions amid fears that Labour’s £25billion Budget raid on employer National Insurance will hit jobs and investment, and push up prices.

Thwaite is the bank’s fourth boss since its 2008 bail-out. Chairman Rick Haythornthwaite described the period of government ownership as a ‘sorry tale’.

Now, however, the end is in sight, Thwaite has confirmed. He said: ‘People can see the rate at which shares are being trickled into the market.

‘I think it’s reasonable to expect that in the absence of a big dislocation in economic events, we’ll be back to private ownership next year, maybe as early as the first half of the year.

‘That will be a great moment – it will be really symbolic for all of us at the bank. 

‘I also think it will be a symbolic moment for the sector because it will be another chapter. 

‘It seems incredible to think back to 2008, but it will be another kind of closing of another chapter.’

Meanwhile, Thwaite said that while he was ‘encouraged’ by measures in the Budget to boost growth over coming years, the Government’s National Insurance hike would take its toll over the shorter term.

He added: ‘Everybody agrees we need growth.

‘The intention, the objective, is the right one. The path to that, I think, is slightly less clear than the intention.’