THE UK Government has trimmed its shareholding in NatWest Group, owner of Royal Bank of Scotland.
UK taxpayers acquired a majority stake in Royal Bank of Scotland after a £45.5 billion government bailout that prevented the bank from collapse during the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009.
In recent years, that Treasury shareholding has been whittled down as the bank has returned to financial health. And it dipped below the landmark 50 per cent mark in March of last year, when the Government sold £1.2bn of shares back to NatWest. The share sale returned the bank to private ownership, cutting the Government stake from 50.6% to 48.1%.
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A notification of major holdings announced to the stock market today revealed that the public shareholding had been cut further, to 42.95% from 43.97%.
The announcement followed weeks of speculation that the Treasury was looking to sell down its stake in the bank.
And it came after the bank reported its biggest profits since the financial crisis on Friday. The bank, which changed its name to NatWest from Royal Bank of Scotland at corporate level in 2020, reported that profits had increased by more than one-third to £5.1bn in 2022. Profits surged as the lender benefited from the rise in interest rates in the latter part of the year.
However, shares fell sharply on the day as analysts highlighted concern over the bank’s outlook on income and costs.
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It was also reported on Friday that chief executive Dame Alison Rose was paid a total of £5.2 million in 2022, up from £3.6m, which came after changes were made to the bonus structure for senior executives last year.
Chairman Sir Howard Davies said: “We think this is a totally appropriate level of remuneration for our senior people.”
The overall bonus pool for the bank’s wider workforce increased to £367.5m in 2022, up 23% on the year before. Around half of the bank’s 60,000 staff work in bonus-eligible roles, a spokeswoman said.
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