NAT VERY CLEVER
Aborted plan to sell taxpayers’ stake in NATWEST to individual shareholders cost the bank £24million
The election saw plans axed, meaning millions were wasted on adviser fees and campaign fronted by Sir Trevor McDonald
THE aborted plan to sell taxpayers’ stake in NATWEST to individual shareholders cost the bank £24million.
The Tory Government had been gearing up to offload the state’s 19.9 per cent NatWest stake through a discounted share sale to ordinary Brits in June.
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But the election axed the plans, meaning the bank and Government wasted millions on adviser fees and a campaign fronted by Sir Trevor McDonald.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is considering offloading the stake to institutional investors, rather than proceed with her predecessor’s “Tell Sid”-style offer, Bloomberg says.
NatWest revealed the cost of the failed share sale yesterday, alongside results and details of a £2.5billion takeover of Metro Bank’s mortgage books. The deal came a month after it struck a takeover of Sainsbury's core bank. Analysts welcomed the mortgage deal as a sign that NatWest was back in growth.
It will boost Metro Bank’s finances, after the company almost collapsed last year before a rescue deal.
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NatWest shares rose by as much as 8 per cent yesterday after the bank’s profits beat expectations.
Its operating profits fell by 15.6 per cent to £3billion in the six months to June, although this was much better than analysts had predicted.
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