Natwest to buy back $1.5 billion of shares from UK government By Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) – Natwest said on Friday it had agreed to buy back 1.1 billion pounds ($1.53 billion) of shares from the British government.

The off-market deal for 590.7 million shares will settle on March 23, the bank said in a statement.

NatWest – formerly Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:NWG) – remains 62% taxpayer-owned as a legacy of its state bailout in the 2007-09 financial crisis. The government has managed just two sales of state-owned stock to date, with the last one in 2018.