Treasury to dispose of final shares in bailed-out NatWest Group

The government is preparing to sell the final publicly owned shares in NatWest Group on Friday, drawing a line under one of the world's biggest bank bailouts after nearly 17 years.

Sky News understands that the Treasury is preparing to offload its remaining stake - which is down to roughly 0.1% - in the coming hours, with a public statement likely either later on Friday or on Monday morning. Sources cautioned that the timings were still subject to change.

The final disposal of a stake which at one point represented more than 80% of NatWest's share capital has been anticipated for weeks. Last week, Sky News reported that British taxpayers were heading for a loss of just over £10bn on the 2008 rescue of NatWest, then known as Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), having pumped £45.5bn into the lender to prevent it - and the wider UK financial system - collapsing.

Confirmation of the sale of the Treasury's final interest in NatWest will come almost 17 years after the then chancellor, Lord Darling, conducted what RBS's boss at the time, Fred Goodwin, labelled "a drive-by shooting". Total proceeds from a government trading plan launched in 2021 to drip-feed NatWest stock into the market have so far reached about £13bn, with the final tally likely to be about £13.2bn.

In addition, institutional share sales and direct buybacks by NatWest of government-held stock have yielded a further £11.5bn. Dividend payments to the Treasury during its ownership have totalled £4.9bn, while fees and other payments have generated another £5.6bn.

In aggregate, that means total proceeds from NatWest since 2008 are expected to hit £35.3bn. Under Rick Haythornthwaite and Paul Thwaite, now the bank's chairman and chief executive respectively, NatWest is now focused on driving growth across its business.

It recently tabled an £11bn bid to buy Santander UK, according to the Financial Times, although no talks are ongoing. Mr Thwaite replaced Dame Alison Rose, who left amid the crisis sparked by the debanking scandal involving Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader.

Sky News recently revealed that the bank and Mr Farage had reached an undisclosed settlement. During the first five years of NatWest's period in majority state ownership, the bank was run by Sir Stephen Hester, now the chairman of easyJet.

Sir Stephen stepped down amid tensions with the then chancellor, George Osborne, about how RBS - as it them was - should be run. Lloyds Banking Group was also in partial state ownership for years, although taxpayers reaped a net gain of about £900m from that period.

Other lenders nationalised during the crisis included Bradford & Bingley, the bulk of which was sold to Santander UK, and Northern Rock, part of which was sold to Virgin Money - which in turn has been acquired by Nationwide. The Treasury and NatWest declined to comment..