Category Archives: NatWest Group

Capital Group buys more than £110m in NatWest shares after UK government share cut

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Leading US investor pours cash into shares after cut helps allay fears of state intervention

A leading US investor has started pouring cash into NatWest shares after a notable cut in the government’s shareholding helped to allay fears of state intervention in the bailed-out banking group.

Los Angeles-headquartered Capital Group, which is one of the world’s oldest and largest investment firms, with more than £2.5tn under management, has bought more than £110m worth of NatWest shares, days after the government cut its position, pushing the group into the bank’s top 30 shareholder list.

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NatWest criticised over £1.2m pay for boss with ‘limited experience’

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Governance adviser says Paul Thwaite could have been offered lower starting salary than predecessor Alison Rose

NatWest has been criticised for paying its new boss a salary of £1.2m despite his “limited experience” as a chief executive, amid a wider shareholder backlash in the City of London over bumper corporate pay.

As the government prepares to sell shares in the bank before the general election, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) warned that Paul Thwaite would be paid the same salary as the bank’s former chief executive, Alison Rose, despite lacking her experience as a lead executive.

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Nigel Farage to sue NatWest and wants a class action over bank account closures

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Closures at subsidiary Coutts led to resignation of Alison Rose, the chief executive of NatWest

Nigel Farage is to launch a legal battle with NatWest over the closure of his accounts at its private bank subsidiary Coutts. The debanking scandal ultimately led to the resignation of Alison Rose, the chief executive of NatWest, in July and the departure of Peter Flavel, the chief executive of Coutts, soon after.

The former leader of Ukip and the Brexit party said he is instructing lawyers to take action against NatWest, with the aim of turning it into a class action.

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NatWest decision to close Nigel Farage’s bank accounts was lawful, says report

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Investigation for bank finds however that there were ‘serious failings’ in handling of Coutts move and treatment of ex-Ukip leader

NatWest group’s decision to close Nigel Farage’s accounts at its private bank Coutts was lawful, but there were “serious failings” in its treatment of the former Ukip leader, an independent review has found.

Lawyers hired by NatWest determined that Coutts had a “contractual right” to shut Farage’s accounts, and had done so because the bank was losing money by keeping him as a client.

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Bank of England sounds out buyers for Metro Bank including NatWest

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JP Morgan also approached as Metro reportedly tries to thrash out rescue package with investors

The Bank of England’s regulatory arm is understood to have approached a number of big lenders in the past few days, including NatWest and JP Morgan Chase, to see if they had any interest in the embattled high street rival Metro Bank.

JP Morgan Chase examined a potential bid to take over the whole of Metro after speaking to the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) but decided on Saturday night not to go ahead with it, a source said.

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New Natwest boss worked for oil firm under investigation in ‘world’s biggest financial scandal’

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Exclusive: Rick Haythornthwaite was paid £200,000 a year by Saudi company, PetroSaudi, involved in 1MDB scandal

Read more: The NatWest boss, the missing Malaysian millions and the damning email

The new chairman of NatWest is facing scrutiny over his former role with international oil group PetroSaudi, which is embroiled in one of the world’s biggest financial scandals.

City veteran and former MasterCard boss Rick Haythornthwaite worked for PetroSaudi International (UK) Ltd, the oil group’s British arm, for eight years, earning £200,000 a year.

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NatWest expected to name ex-Centrica boss as chair after Farage saga

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Rick Haythornthwaite, who leads boardrooms of Ocado and the AA, lined up to succeed Howard Davies

NatWest is expected to announce shortly that a former Centrica boss will be its next chair, as the lender continues to deal with the fallout from the scandal surrounding the threatened closure of Nigel Farage’s bank accounts.

Rick Haythornthwaite – who previously chaired Network Rail and Mastercard as well as the British Gas owner and currently leads the boardrooms of Ocado and the AA – could be confirmed as a successor to Howard Davies as early as Wednesday afternoon, the Guardian understands.

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Nigel Farage says new Coutts boss has offered to keep his accounts open

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Former Ukip leader is still taking legal action against bank demanding compensation and apology

Nigel Farage has said that the newly installed boss of Coutts has offered to keep his accounts there open, reversing a decision that triggered a scandal and the resignation of the private bank’s previous chief executive.

The former Ukip leader said he welcomed the offer but was still taking legal action against NatWest, which owns Coutts, demanding compensation, a full apology and a face-to-face meeting with the banking group’s bosses.

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UK banks are closing more than 1,000 accounts every day

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Nigel Farage calls for royal commission as data shows big jump in customers being ‘debanked’

Banks are closing more than 1,000 accounts every working day, according to new data that has fuelled the growing row over so-called “debanking” and prompted Nigel Farage to call for a royal commission to investigate what he said was a scandal.

Hours after the former Ukip leader revealed he was spearheading a website to campaign on behalf of people whose accounts had been shut, data revealed a big jump in the numbers of customers dumped by their bank.

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NatWest to pay UK government £190m as Farage crisis rocks bank

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Crisis-hit group plans to pay dividends worth £500m to investors after quarterly profits rise by 27%

NatWest will make a fresh £190m payout to its largest shareholder, the UK government, after Downing Street had an influence in the resignation of Alison Rose as the bank’s chief executive amid a row over Nigel Farage’s accounts.

The crisis-hit group said it was planning to pay dividends worth £500m to its investors after another strong quarter in which pre-tax profits rose by a higher than expected 27% to £1.8bn in the three months to June. That was compared with £1.4bn a year earlier, as the bank benefited from rising interest rates that allowed it to charge borrowers more for loans and mortgages.

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Why Nigel Farage’s bank account matters so much – podcast

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Since the politician’s account with Coutts was closed, the story has dominated the news agenda. Does it show that something has gone very wrong in our banking system?

On the surface it may not sound like a story that would generate national interest. A controversial politician finds his bank account with a bank catering to the ultra-wealthy has been closed. So why has it dominated news headlines?

Last month Nigel Farage posted a six-minute video on social media explaining that his bank account had been shut, that he was struggling to find another one and that the “establishment” was trying to force him out of the UK. He thought it was his political views that were behind the decision. But a later BBC story claimed it was a lack of funds, not his beliefs, behind the closure.

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Khan dismisses Sunak’s attack on his housebuilding record in London as ‘desperate nonsense’ – UK politics live

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Mayor of London hits back at prime minister over ‘pathetic gesture politics’

Rishi Sunak has failed to give his full backing to Sir Howard Davies, chairman of NatWest, in interviews this morning, PA Media reports.

PA says that Sunak did not back calls for the resignation of Davies in a pooled interview this morning – but also that Sunak would not say whether he had confidence in him.

What I said right at the start of this was that it wasn’t right for people to be deprived of basic services because of banking, because of their views.

This isn’t about any one individual, it’s about values – do you believe in free speech and not to be discriminated against because of your legally held views?

As a result of this policy, a dozen classrooms of children, including some of the most traumatised and vulnerable children in the world, have gone missing and, sickeningly for us, 50 children are still missing from the hotel used in Brighton and Hove.

Importantly the high court also makes clear that the home secretary already has the power to require local authorities across the country to take children into foster care via a statutory rota system called the national transfer scheme.

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NatWest was caught out by Nigel Farage’s deft political game

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Tory anger over Coutts affair led to bank’s board feeling it had no choice but to sack CEO Alison Rose

Just after 5.40pm on Tuesday afternoon, the two people in charge of NatWest Group put out a joint statement. Dame Alison Rose, its chief executive, admitted she had been the source for an incendiary BBC story about Nigel Farage’s accounts at its exclusive private bank, while Sir Howard Davies, the bank’s chair, expressed his support for her remaining in charge of the lender.

Eight hours later, the bank had performed a dramatic reversal, having catastrophically misjudged the mood of its largest shareholder, the UK government. After last-minute interventions from both the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, and the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, board members convened for a late-night virtual call that was to spell the end of Rose’s 31-year career with the bank.

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Sunak and Hunt accused of ‘damaging UK plc’ over NatWest boss’s exit

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Concerns raised over anonymous briefings that triggered early-hours resignation of Dame Alison Rose

The prime minister and the chancellor have been accused of “damaging UK plc” and failing to follow due process amid concern over anonymous briefings that triggered the early-hours resignation of NatWest boss Dame Alison Rose.

“There is a real sense of disquiet that political pressure has led to a midnight exit for such an important banking CEO,” an official at the City regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, told the Guardian. “They should have allowed due process.”

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NatWest boss Alison Rose resigns over Nigel Farage Coutts account row

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Former Ukip leader obtained report suggesting media coverage of his political views was considered in Coutts closure decision

Dame Alison Rose, the chief executive of NatWest Group, has stood down after a row over the closure of Nigel Farage’s bank account with the private bank Coutts, which NatWest owns.

Rose has resigned from the banking group after the former UK Independence party leader complained to the BBC about a report that claimed his accounts with Coutts were closed for commercial reasons. The broadcaster has since apologised and amended its story.

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Nigel Farage calls for NatWest bosses to go after chief executive resigns over Coutts row – business live

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Live coverage of business, economics and financial markets as UK bank replaces leader following late night board meeting

The minister in charge of overseeing the UK’s financial services has said that “it is right” that Alison Rose has resigned from NatWest Group, calling the closure of Nigel Farage’s bank account “unacceptable”.

Andrew Griffith, the City minister, said the resignation “would never have happened” had NatWest Group’s subsidiary, Coutts, not withdrawn the account “due to someone’s lawful political views”.

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Sunak, Braverman and City regulator wade into Farage banking row

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FCA chief says banks cannot ‘discriminate’ against political views, but chair argues it’s up to Coutts ‘who they do business with’

The City regulator has said it has contacted the owner of Coutts bank amid a growing row over its decision to close Nigel Farage’s accounts, but told MPs that while lenders cannot discriminate against customers, it is ultimately up to firms to decide who to do business with.

It came as the prime minister, the home secretary and the City minister waded in to the growing debate over the rights of lenders to shut or refuse accounts based on concerns over customers’ political views.

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Labour criticised for giving global banks access to parliament

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Exclusive: HSBC and NatWest staffers seconded to shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds’s team

Labour has been criticised for giving global banks access to parliament after taking an HSBC staffer into its shadow business team, despite the financial giant coming under fire over its links with China.

One senior policy manager from HSBC has been seconded to the team of Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow business secretary, and has been given a parliamentary pass since February.

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Deadline to sell off UK government’s NatWest shares extended to 2025

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Recent banking turmoil fuels decision to delay offloading portions of its remaining 41% stake

A plan to whittle down the government’s stake in NatWest has been extended by another two years, after weeks of banking turmoil that hit the lender’s shares and temporarily fuelled fears over a fresh financial crisis.

UK Government Investments (UKGI), which manages the shares on behalf of the Treasury, said the scheme to strategically sell portions of the British taxpayer’s shareholding – after NatWest’s near-£46bn state bailout in 2008 – would now run until August 2025.

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UK and US shares climb as banks and ministers aim to calm Credit Suisse fears

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FTSE 100 rises and European banking shares are up after early jitters over what UBS takeover deal means for bondholders

Stocks climbed on Monday in London and New York after central bankers and politicians sought to soothe jitters triggered by the emergency rescue of Credit Suisse during the weekend.

Central banks in the UK and eurozone issued statements aimed at reassuring investors that – unlike the controversial approach taken by the Swiss authorities in the Credit Suisse deal – their jurisdictions would follow a hierarchy in which equity holders would lose out before bond holders.

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