NatWest buys back another £1 billion of its shares – government stake cut by more than two-thirds since December last year

NatWest has taken a step closer to full privatization after buying back £1bn of its shares from the Government.

The taxpayer-backed lender said it bought 263 million Government shares at a price of 380.8 pence each, reducing the stake to around 11.4 per cent from 14.81 per cent at the end of October.

NatWest has bought back £2.2bn of state-owned shares so far this year through two rounds of buybacks.

Together with ongoing share sales by the Treasury, this has helped reduce the Government’s stake by more than two-thirds since December last year, down from 38 per cent.

NatWest chief executive Paul Thwaite said: “This transaction represents another important milestone on the path to full privatisation.”

“We believe this is a positive use of capital for the bank and our shareholders and are pleased with the sustained momentum in reducing the Treasury’s stake.”

NatWest received several bailouts worth billions of pounds during the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, leaving the Government with an 84 per cent stake in what was then known as Royal Bank of Scotland.

But the Treasury has been selling its stake in the lender as it seeks to return the bank to private hands.

In March, the stake fell below 30 percent, meaning the government was no longer considered a majority shareholder in the lender.

Labor abandoned previous Conservative plans to sell shares to the public after winning the election in July.