UK govt NatWest stake under 50% after bank buys shares for £1.2bn

NatWest Group said it was buying back a 4.91% stake in the bank from the UK government for £1.2bn, taking the British taxpayers’ holding to below 50% for the first time since the financial crash of 2008.

The bank said it would cancel the shares once repurchased. NatWest was bailed out by the taxpayer to the tune of £45bn as the global financial system faced meltdown after predatory lending and excessive risk-taking by the sector.

However, the Treasury has once again publicly-held shares in a bank at a significant loss, after paying an average of 500p a share in 2008 the off-market sale of 550m shares will be completed at 220.5p each. Despite the outrage sparked by banker behaviour during the crisis, no-one was prosecuted and the financial sector was able to socialise its losses.

The deal will complete on Wednesday, leaving the government with a 48.1% stake in the banking group. At one stage Briton's held 84% of the institution after the then Labour government of Gordon Brown bailed out NatWest in October 2008, following the collapse of the US investment bank Lehman Brothers which rippled through the global financial system.

Taxpayers were also left propping up Lloyds TSB and HBOS, which later combined to form Lloyds Banking Group. Lloyds bought back the last of its shares from the government in 2017.

NatWest symbolised the risk-taking excesses of the sector, led by chief executive Fred “The Shred” Goodwin, who was later stripped of his knighthood after public outrage at his running of the bank.