Government sells final shares in NatWest 17 years after £45bn bailout

Posted on May 30, 2025 by Admin

Sale ends state ownership of the banking group, then known as Royal Bank of Scotland, after 2008 rescue

The UK has sold its final shares in NatWest Group, ending 17 years of state ownership since the £45bn taxpayer bailout that saved the bank from collapse at the height of the 2008 financial crisis.

The full privatisation of NatWest is a symbolic moment for the banking group – formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) – and draws a line under the most tumultuous chapter in its near 300-year history.

Taxpayers set for £10bn loss on NatWest as disgraced ex-boss takes £600k-a-year pension

Posted on May 26, 2025 by Admin

Government expected to sell last shares in banking group this week, drawing a line under 2008 financial crisis bailout

Fred “the Shred” Goodwin, the disgraced ex-boss of Royal Bank of Scotland, is estimated to be receiving an annual pension worth nearly £600,000, as the government prepares to declare a £10bn loss after selling its final stake in the bank as early as this week.

The banking group, now known as NatWest, is expected to return to full private ownership within days, drawing a line under a £45bn state bailout that saved the bank from the brink of collapse at the height of the 2008 financial crisis.

European banks storing €20bn a year in tax havens

Posted on September 6, 2021 by Admin

Barclays and HSBC among banks booking money equivalent to 14% of annual profits in offshore entities

Leading European banks are booking around €20bn (£17bn) a year – equivalent to 14% of their total profits – in tax havens, with Barclays, HSBC and NatWest Group among those enjoying the lowest tax rates, according to a new report.

The figures emerge from an analysis, conducted by the EU Tax Observatory, of 36 big banks required to publicly report country-by-country data on their activities.

Barclays, HSBC and Lloyds among UK banks that had links to slavery

Posted on June 18, 2020 by Admin

Many bank directors received compensation after slavery was made illegal in 1833

The slave trade was abolished in the British Empire in 1807 but it was not until 1833 that the Slavery Abolition Act finally banned the ownership of other human beings. However, 46,000 slave owners continued to benefit financially as the subsequent Slave Compensation Act provided £20m in payments – a sum worth billions in 2020 terms. Despite the name of the act, the former slaves were not compensated.

University College London’s Legacies of British Slave Ownership project shows that 10% to 20% of Britain’s wealthy can be identified as having had significant links to slavery. The amount of money borrowed to pay off slave owners was so large that the government only repaid it fully in 2015. Companies with links to slavery in their past include: