NatWest Group Reduces Government Stake With £1 Billion Share Buyback
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NatWest Group has bought back £1 billion of its own shares from the UK government. This will help lower the government’s ownership in the bank. The £1 billion buyback allowed NatWest to get 262.6 million shares from the government. After the buyback, the government’s voting rights in the bank dropped from 14.2% to 11.4%.
This is the second time in one year that NatWest has bought back shares. The UK government changed the rules earlier this year, allowing companies like NatWest to buy back more shares.
NatWest Group Moves Closer To Full Privatization With Share Buyback Strategy
The UK government raised the limit for buybacks from 5% to 15%. This change gave NatWest the chance to speed up the process and lower the government’s stake in the bank.
Over the last year, the UK government has sold many of its shares in NatWest. At the end of last year, the government-owned about 38% of the bank. Now, after the buyback, that number is much smaller.
The government is selling its shares in different ways, including selling them to big investors. The previous government, led by Rishi Sunak, wanted to sell shares to regular people, but the new Labour government has other plans.
Rachel Reeves, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, is thinking about selling the rest of the government’s shares to large investors, not regular people. With only 11.4% of voting rights left, NatWest is getting closer to becoming fully privatized. This could happen even before the 2026 target.
NatWest Group Expands Global Payment Services Through Key Partnerships
In April, NatWest also worked with StoneX Financial Ltd, part of StoneX Group, to improve its international payment services.
The two companies joined forces to offer better services for sending money between countries. StoneX Payments, StoneX’s payment part, will help NatWest with international payments.
This means NatWest can help its corporate clients send money to more countries and use more currencies. This is part of the bank’s plan to grow its payment services around the world.
NatWest also worked with FXSpotStream, which became a liquidity provider for the bank last year. FXSpotStream said this partnership will help improve its services and reach more clients. This came after FXSpotStream introduced new pricing plans to attract more business.
NatWest Group is located in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is one of the biggest banking and insurance groups in the UK. It runs different brands, like National Westminster Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest Markets, and Coutts. The bank also prints banknotes in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
