The government will consider selling the remaining 38.6% stake in banking group NatWest to the public within a year, the chancellor said.
Jeremy Hunt said he would “explore options” for a private equity investment over the next 12 months, but stressed it would be “subject to favorable market conditions and provides good value for money”.
Following the privatizations of the 1980s, British Gas shares were advertised in the 1980s to encourage millions of ordinary Britons to take part in the privatization of state-owned companies under the slogan “If you see Sid… tell him.” ‘, the Chancellor said: “It’s time to let Sid invest again.”
The Treasury said it plans to sell the remaining government stake in early 2026 “using a range of sales techniques” and explore the possibility of private investor participation in the next 12 months.
The government, which is currently NatWest’s largest shareholder, has already committed to selling its entire stake by 2025-26.
NatWest shares fell 25 per cent following disappointing results and the departure of former chief executive Dame Alison Rose. She was forced to leave the bank following the Nigel Farage banking scandal involving a NatWest subsidiary Coutts.
The government has gradually reduced its stake in NatWest since the £45 billion rescue of RBS during the 2008 financial crisis. In May he sold £1.26 billion worth of shares to the bank, reducing his stake from 41 percent.
Ministers have called for a revival of people’s share ownership to boost the economy and boost consumer savings.
Former cities minister Andrew Griffith has backed calls to scrap or weaken legal protections to make it easier for people to invest. “Greater share ownership is good for savers, good for the economy and good for society,” he said.
Conservative think tank the Center for Policy Research has warned that the UK has become too “risk averse” so consumers are keeping £1.8 trillion in savings accounts rather than investing it in UK companies.
She called for tax changes to encourage more people to become private investors, as well as fewer warnings from regulators, better access to investment advice and the merging of cash and shares Isas.
Nick King, a researcher at the think tank, said regulators’ warnings were “so focused on protecting people from the risks of investing that we are not exposing people to the benefits.”
A NatWest spokesman said: “Any decision to sell shares is a government matter. We welcome the government’s continued commitment to returning NatWest Group to private ownership and believe this is in the interests of the bank and our shareholders.”
Source: I News
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