The Government is no longer the biggest shareholder in NatWest, marking a shift in the bank’s future more than 16 years after being bailed out by taxpayers.
NatWest said the Government’s shareholding fell below 6% on Friday.
It is understood that this puts its stake below that of investment group BlackRock, which according to data compiled by Bloomberg, has a 6.4% holding.
The banking group is expecting to return to private ownership by the middle of this year.
It received multibillion-pound bailouts funded by taxpayers during the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009, leaving the Government with an 84% stake in what was then known as Royal Bank of Scotland.
At the end of 2023, the shareholding was at 40%, but the Treasury has since been whittling down that stake as it accelerated efforts to return it to private hands.
Paul Thwaite, NatWest’s chief executive, has said it would be a “symbolic” moment and “means we can talk about the future of the bank… rather than having to talk about its past”.
NatWest made an operating pre-tax profit of £6.2 billion in 2024, and handed out about £467 million in bonuses across eligible staff during the year.
This was a quarter higher than the 2023 bonus pool, which the bank attributed to achieving a stronger financial performance.