Natwest’s chairman has said he is keen to put an end to the “sad story” of government involvement as the lender’s public share sale approaches.
Rick Haythornthwaite, who took over in January, told the bank’s annual general meeting in Edinburgh: “A return to private ownership is now on the horizon.”
And he said he was confident that Paul Thwaite – the bank’s fourth chief executive since it was rescued from collapse in 2008 – would be the last to answer to Treasury shareholders.
Haythornthwaite’s comments came as Treasury, which owns a just under 29 per cent stake in the lender, prepares to launch a ‘Tell Sid’-style sale of part of its stake this summer.
“I think removing that excess is valuable, but it also puts an end to what is a sorry story for the UK and a sorry story for the bank,” he said.
End of an era: Natwest chairman Rick Haythornthwaite, who took over in January, told the bank’s annual general meeting in Edinburgh: “A return to private ownership is now on the horizon.”
Natwest – then known as Royal Bank of Scotland – was effectively nationalized in a £46bn bailout after it came close to collapse under Fred ‘the Shred’ Goodwin.
At its peak, the taxpayer owned 84 percent of the lender.
Since then, this stake has been gradually reduced through a series of sales to private investors.
Under the leadership of former chief executive Alison Rose, the bank – which includes the Royal Bank of Scotland, Natwest and Ulster Bank brands – dropped the RBS group name as it seeks to break with its crisis-plagued past.
However, Rose was forced to resign last year after becoming caught up in a scandal of her own over the decision to leave former UKIP leader Nigel Farage as a client of the group’s private bank, Coutts.
However, crisis aside, the bank’s recovery has continued and earlier this year it posted its biggest annual profits since 2007.
The Government has committed to completely exiting its stake in the bank by the 2025-26 financial year.
Haythornthwaite said yesterday: “This is a shared ambition which we believe is in the best interests of the bank and our shareholders.”
Yesterday the shares closed up 2.2 per cent, or 6.1p, at 285.8p.