Natwest 2024 profits: Positive Money response

Responding to NatWest's announcement that their profits for 2024 rose to £6.3bn, Hannah Dewhirst, Head of Campaigns at Positive Money, said:

“There is a bitter irony to NatWest paying bankers bumper bonuses whilst the public - who bailed them out 17 years ago - struggle under the weight of the same high borrowing costs now flooding its profit pool.

“But it’s not done taking payouts from the public: even though the government has sold almost all its shares in NatWest, the Treasury continues to cover the multi-billion-pound interest payments that the Bank of England has been paying them since hiking rates.

“The government must reduce these interest payments to banks - as they’ve done in Europe - or place a windfall tax on bank profits to claw back the proceeds of rate rises. At the very least, they should reverse the tax cuts banks received under the last government.”

Notes

• NatWest’s full profit announcement can be found here: https://investors.natwestgroup.com/results-centre 

• New figures from the Bank of England show up to £150bn could be paid out from the Government by 2030 to cover losses from unwinding QE. This amounts to roughly £30 billion a year in transfers from the Treasury to the Bank of England over the next five years, according to the Bank’s latest projections: https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/asset-purchase-facility/2024/2024-q4 

• Banks are mostly lending to buy property; the stock of bank loans held by non-financial corporations, i.e. businesses that produce non-financial goods and services, is today at a lower level than in 2010: https://positivemoney.org/update/how-is-bank-lending-shaping-uk-economy/ 

• Last year, Positive Money predicted that a windfall tax on the profits of Britain's biggest banks could bring in nearly £15bn for public spending: https://positivemoney.org/press-release/windfall-tax-on-bank-profits-could-raise-ps15bn-in-2024/ 

• In 2023, the European Central Bank eliminated the payment of interest on the minimum reserves banks are required to hold with their national central bank: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pr/date/2023/html/ecb.pr230727~7206e9aa48.en.html 

• The Conservative government cut the Banking Surcharge and Bank Levy in a move that the TUC estimated in 2023 costs the public £29 million a week: https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/tuc-public-purse-losing-least-ps29-million-week-result-huge-tax-break-banks 

About Positive Money:

Positive Money is an international research and campaign organisation working to redesign our economic system for social justice and a liveable planet. Set up in the aftermath of the financial crisis, Positive Money is a not-for-profit company funded by charitable trusts and foundations, as well as small donations from its network of supporters. Find out more: www.positivemoney.org