NatWest
NatWest's headquarters at 250 Bishopsgate in the City of London | |
| NatWest | |
| Formerly | National Westminster Bank Limited (1968–1981)[1] |
| Company type | Private |
| Industry | Financial services |
| Predecessor |
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| Founded | 18 March 1968[1] |
| Headquarters | London, England, UK |
Key people |
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| Products |
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| Parent | NatWest Holdings[2] |
| Subsidiaries | Coutts |
| Website | natwest |
National Westminster Bank,[3] commonly known as NatWest,[4] is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, it became part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, which was re-named NatWest Group in 2020. Following ringfencing of the group's core domestic business, the bank became a direct subsidiary of NatWest Holdings; NatWest Markets comprises the non-ringfenced investment banking arm. NatWest International is a trading name of RBS International, which also sits outside the ringfence.
Between 2008 and 2025, the UK government held a stake in NatWest Group following its £45 billion ($61.87 billion) bailout of the lender which led to it owning 84 per cent at one point.[5][6][7] The bank returned to full private ownership on 30 May 2025 after 17 years.[8]
NatWest is considered one of the Big Four clearing banks in the UK,[9] and it has a large network of over 526 branches[10] and 3,400 cash machines across Great Britain and offers 24-hour Actionline telephone and online banking services. Today, it has more than 7.5 million personal customers and 850,000 small business accounts. In Northern Ireland, it operates through the Ulster Bank brand.
- ^ a b "Incorporation". Companies House. 18 March 1968. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
- ^ "National Westminster Bank Public Limited Company persons with significant control - Find and update company information - Gov.uk". Companies House. 1 January 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2025.
- ^ "Certificate of change of name and re-registration from Private to Public Limited Company". Companies House. 1 February 1982. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
- ^ "National Westminster Bank Plc Annual Report and Accounts 2019" (PDF). NatWest. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 January 2022. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
- ^ "Britain unveils plan to return NatWest to majority private control". Reuters. 22 July 2021. Archived from the original on 16 September 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
- ^ Strydom, Martin (11 November 2024). "NatWest buys back £1bn of shares from Treasury". The Times. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
- ^ Makortoff, Kalyeena (30 May 2025). "Government sells final shares in NatWest 17 years after £45bn bailout". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 30 May 2025.
- ^ Quinio, Akila (30 May 2025). "NatWest returns to full private ownership 17 years after £46bn UK bailout". Financial Times. Retrieved 3 June 2025.
- ^ Kar-Gupta, Sudip. "UK banks prepare for inevitable shake-up". Archived from the original on 15 April 2014.
- ^ "RBS and NatWest to shed 158 branches and more than 400 jobs". BBC News. 23 March 2017. Archived from the original on 24 March 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2017.