Earlier this month, NatWest (NWG) bought back £1bn-worth of shares from the taxpayer. Further sales have since reduced the state’s holding to 11 per cent, down from around 42 per cent at the start of 2024, according to FactSet data.
With the stock trading at 391p, that leaves about £3.5bn in the Treasury’s hands. Within a few months, it may have fully cashed out, potentially ending a 16-year period in which the nation was the majority owner of a major high street lender.
Many elements of both the ownership and sale are unique. In UK markets, it’s rare enough for a non-passive shareholder to be exposed to more than £10bn of any single stock. But that’s been the state’s lot – including the attendant liquidity headaches – for most of the time since it injected £45.5bn of cash into the then Royal Bank of Scotland in 2008.