NatWest Group (NYSE:NWG) executives outlined what CEO Paul Thwaite called “another strong performance” in 2025, highlighting customer growth, improved operating leverage and continued capital returns, while also introducing new 2028 financial targets and discussing the recently announced acquisition of financial planning and investment firm Evolent Partners.
2025 performance: growth, higher income and shareholder distributions
Thwaite said NatWest added 1 million new customers in 2025 and delivered “broad based growth across all three businesses.” Group lending increased 5.6% to £393 billion and deposits rose 2.4% to £442 billion. Assets under management and administration (AUMA) increased 20% to £58.5 billion.
Management highlighted earnings per share growth of 27% to 68p and a 51% increase in dividends per share to 32.5p. The CET1 ratio ended the year at 14%, with return on tangible equity (RoTE) of 19.2%.
NatWest also emphasized capital returns. Total distributions announced in 2025 were £4.1 billion, including £1.5 billion of buybacks and £2.6 billion of dividends. Thwaite noted that this included a £750 million buyback announced earlier in the week alongside the Evolent Partners transaction.
Business highlights: retail, wealth and commercial momentum
In retail banking, NatWest said its customer base increased by more than 5%, and customer assets and liabilities rose 4% to £421 billion. The Sainsbury’s Bank transaction added roughly 1 million customer accounts, and management said the deal contributed to unsecured market share rising from 6.4% to 7.2%, including credit card share growth from 9.7% to 10.6%. NatWest also cited improved flow share in mortgages, including first-time buyer flow share rising from 10% to 12% and buy-to-let flow share increasing from 3% to 6%.
Private banking and wealth management posted what management described as strong momentum, with more than 50,000 customers investing for the first time during the year. Net new flows to AUMA grew 41%, and AUMA reached £58.5 billion. In commercial and institutional banking, NatWest pointed to FX expansion to 700 additional mid-market customers and said FX revenue grew around 20%. Lending balances in the division rose 10% (up £14 billion), and management cited activity in areas including social housing, infrastructure and climate and transition finance.
Efficiency and simplification: cost savings, app enhancements and AI
Thwaite said the bank delivered around £600 million of gross cost savings in 2025—more than 7% of its 2024 cost base—and created £100 million of investment capacity to reinvest in transformation. Across the group, NatWest described ongoing simplification through technology investment, platform consolidation and reductions in legal entities and property footprint.
Management also detailed several digital and AI initiatives. In retail banking, the NatWest app recorded a Net Promoter Score of 51, with more than 100 new features launched during the year. The bank said it rolled out generative AI enhancements to its digital assistant, Cora, increasing the proportion of queries that can be resolved by 20 percentage points. In commercial banking, NatWest highlighted continuing investment in its Bankline platform, which it said customers accessed around 300,000 times last year.
During Q&A, executives described cost actions as broad-based, including ongoing application decommissioning, platform consolidation, “doing more change at lower cost,” and simplification across property and organizational structures. CFO Katie Murray said the bank expects positive jaws in each year toward 2028 and suggested there could be “further improvement” beyond 2028.
Risk, capital and updated targets: lower CET1 target and Basel 3.1 impacts
On credit quality, NatWest reported a loan impairment charge of £671 million, equivalent to 16 basis points of loans, and said there were no “significant signs of stress” across the businesses. For 2026, management guided to a loan impairment rate below 25 basis points, describing this as normalization and mix effects rather than reliance on post-model adjustment releases.
Capital generation remained a central theme. Murray said the bank generated 252 basis points of capital in 2025, taking the CET1 ratio to 16.1% before distributions. NatWest also reduced risk-weighted assets by £10.9 billion through capital management actions, including significant risk transfers and a £2 billion mortgage securitization.
Looking ahead, Murray said NatWest expects Basel 3.1 implementation in January 2027 to increase RWAs by around £10 billion, largely due to operational risk and the removal of SME and infrastructure support factors. She added there should be some offset in Pillar 2 requirements, though the bank would still need to hold a higher nominal amount of CET1.
NatWest also lowered its CET1 operating target, reducing it from a 13% to 14% range to “around 13%.” Murray cited the bank’s supervisory minimum of 11.6%, improved stress test performance, stronger earnings and capital generation, and expected Pillar 2 reductions tied to Basel 3.1.
Evolent Partners acquisition and guidance
Management said the acquisition of Evolent Partners would add £69 billion of AUMA and increase fee income by “almost 20% on day one.” Thwaite described the deal as creating the UK’s leading private bank and wealth manager, with combined AUMA rising to £127 billion and private banking and wealth management customer assets and liabilities (CAL) reaching £188 billion. Murray said the deal would have a day-one CET1 impact of around 130 basis points, reflecting purchased intangibles.
NatWest outlined synergy expectations, including “greater than £700 million” of income benefits and around £100 million of cost synergies, with a cost-to-achieve of approximately €150 million phased over three years. The bank said it expects return on invested capital to exceed the return from a share buyback by year three after completion.
For 2026 guidance excluding the impact of Evolent Partners, NatWest forecast:
- Income (excluding notable items) of £17.2 billion to £17.6 billion
- Other operating expenses of around £8.2 billion
- Loan impairment rate below 25 basis points
- Capital generation of around 200 basis points before distributions
- RoTE greater than 17%
For 2028, Thwaite introduced targets that include Evolent Partners, including CAL growth greater than 4% annually from 2025 to 2028, a cost-to-income ratio below 45%, capital generation above 200 basis points before distributions while operating with a CET1 ratio around 13%, and RoTE greater than 18%. The bank said it expects to maintain a 50% dividend payout ratio, with surplus capital potentially returned via buybacks.
About NatWest Group (NYSE:NWG)
NatWest Group plc is a major UK-based banking and financial services group headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company traces its roots to the Royal Bank of Scotland, founded in 1727, and adopted the NatWest Group name in 2020 as part of a strategic refocus on its NatWest brand. NatWest Group is listed on the London Stock Exchange and also has American depositary shares trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NWG.
The group provides a broad range of banking services across retail, private, commercial, corporate and institutional segments.
