Latest news with #financialcrisis
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
He called the 2008 crisis, took a 14-year break and today warns us that a fresh financial storm is brewing
Steve Diggle's Artradis was once the biggest hedge fund in Asia. In the era of the global financial crisis and 'The Big Short,' his tail-risk fund — a portfolio of instruments that benefit from highly adverse market conditions — doubled its assets and returned $3 billion to investors in the process. Diggle's strategy of being long volatility and short credit risk, with a particular focus on the then-nascent credit-default-swap market, proved tremendously successful as markets malfunctioned and asset prices collapsed. The fundamentally bearish approach proved tremendously successful as investors realized how badly risk had been mispriced in a long bull market stretching back to 2002. 'The situation is extreme': I'm 65 and leaving my estate to only one grandchild. Can the others contest my will? My ex-wife said she should have been compensated for working part time during our marriage. Do I owe her? S&P 500 scores best May since 1990, but stocks end month with fresh tariff worries My daughter's boyfriend, a guest in my home, offered to powerwash part of my house — then demanded money Five emerging pillars of stock-market support that should keep investors from rushing the exits Diggle closed his long volatility fund in 2011 when unprecedented — and concerted —quantitative easing by the world's largest central banks depressed volatility to such an extent that the Artradis blueprint was no longer applicable. Things have moved on since 2011, though, and Diggle thinks the time is right to reinitiate his strategy. 'I see a lot of the same complacency and mispricing of risk we witnessed before the global financial crisis began to bubble in 2007,' he told MarketWatch in an interview. Diggle believes, he said, that the opportunity set that markets present to his new Vulpes AI Long/Short, or VAILS fund, launched on May 1, is very similar, which he'll be running from London rather than Artradis's former home of Singapore. There are some differences, however. In 2005–08 much of the hidden risk and excess leverage in the system was in banks and mortgages. Said Diggle: 'In 2025 financial markets are riddled with several fault lines, but now the bubble and the dangerous leverage is centered on private equity and private credit.' Here, again, the assets are misunderstood, poorly regulated, illiquid, mispriced or overvalued, and divestment is difficult without taking hits or marking down the value of other holdings. First, given the enormous budget deficits and huge debts incurred by a decade of QE and then the global pandemic, said Diggle, 'central banks are simply not in a position to implement similarly accommodative monetary policy again.' Second, there is inflation in the system once more. After 40 years of exporting deflation, China is no longer in that position, as globalization is reversing, and protectionist economics are destabilizing supply chains. Third, geopolitics present a clear and present threat to the security of asset markets. Fourth, the U.S. equity market, representing two-thirds of the world's total, is now — by most valuation metrics — expensive. Lastly, he added, ''the world's largest and most powerful economy is being piloted by a disruptive and, some may contend, reckless captain whose unpredictability and irrationality have generated wild market turbulence.' Of course, there are other tail-risk funds and strategies that benefit from bearish views. So what does he add? Straight off the bat, Diggle replies: 'I did it before.' He pointed out that he never gated Artradis during the global financial crisis. Unlike many funds during those periods of wild swings and illiquidity, Artradis always allowed clients to get their money out immediately. Investors back then were frequently obliged to liquidate their tail-risk hedges to offset losses elsewhere. Diggle is also keen to point out that 'I'm not a permabear, like the Nouriel Roubinis and Albert Edwardses of this world.' His investment opinions are tactical, not ideological. His misgivings about asset prices have a simple origin: 'Not enough people have hedges.' VAILS intends to combine selected long volatility positions in indices and stocks with credit-default swaps, not unlike the approach that served Diggle and his investors so well in 2008. For investors running tail-risk funds, the challenge is staying alive while the market, as it usually does, rises. 'We were able to carve out sufficient returns in a low-volatility environment through capital arbitrage,' said Diggle. That means trying to exploit differences in valuations between different securities of the same issuer. This time round, VAILS is unlikely to deploy capital arbitrage strategies. Markets, in some respect at least, have become more efficient in the last 15 years. While positioning for the correction that Diggle believes must come, and generating some alpha to keep investors content in the meantime, VAILS intends to wrap the long volatility/CDS strategy up with a complementary trading model. His proprietary model uses an AI engine, designed to trawl through sheaves of corporate data and communications and spotlight assets that are abnormally vulnerable to failure, be that because they are overvalued, fraudulent or high risk. 'I am getting very frustrated': My mother's adviser has not returned my calls. He manages $1 million. Is this normal? This chart shows why investors should be worried about the latest bond-market selloff It's my dream to travel to Africa. My husband says it's not on his bucket list. Do I pay for him or go alone? 'What we found horrified us': My elderly relative mistook charity envelopes for overdue bills — and gave thousands to other family members Bond 'vigilantes' are sending warnings globally. What does that mean for your portfolio? Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
‘You are going to panic,' Jamie Dimon tells regulators about what will happen when the bond market cracks
Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s longstanding chief executive, fired off a warning about the bond market on Friday, telling regulators they will 'panic' when it happens. 'You are going to see a crack in the bond market — OK,' Dimon said, speaking at an event organized by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. 'It is going to happen.' 'You never know what might happen': How do I make sure my son-in-law doesn't get his hands on my daughter's inheritance? Five emerging pillars of stock-market support that should keep investors from rushing the exits My ex-wife said she should have been compensated for working part time during our marriage. Do I owe her? My daughter's boyfriend, a guest in my home, offered to powerwash part of my house — then demanded money S&P 500 scores best May since 1990, but stocks end month with fresh tariff worries 'And I tell this to my regulators — some of who are in this room — I'm telling you this is going to happen. And you are going to panic.' Dimon has been a frequent critic of banking regulations, pointing to 'deep flaws' in the rules in the wake of extreme tumult in the bond market in April. He has singled out proposed changes to banks' supplementary leverage ratio as likely to aid the roughly $29 trillion Treasury market. A sharp bond selloff in April has kept investors on edge and rattled White House officials. President Donald Trump, during peak tumult, said that bond investors were getting 'yippy.' Trump then paused some of his most aggressive tariffs, and stocks rallied powerfully in May. Some investors have been buying the dip on the view that Trump would threaten but not apply those higher levies. That has helped the S&P 500 index SPX get back to nearly where it started the year. Treasury prices, however, remain under pressure, which has driven up yields. Longer-duration 10-year BX:TMUBMUSD10Y and 30-year BX:TMUBMUSD30Y yields were at 4.418% and 4.931%, respectively, on Friday, up about 25 basis points in May, their biggest monthly yield jumps this year, according to Dow Jones Market Data. 'I don't hold the same view as Jamie,' said Tom di Galoma, managing director at Mischler Financial Group, when asked about Dimon's bond-market warning. 'I though the bond market was broken back in April,' di Galoma said, adding that successful Treasury auctions over the past week, including a closely watched 7-year auction, helped reinforce calm in the sector. The Federal Reserve and Treasury also have tools to use if needed, he said, to help manage points of friction and stress in the sector. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has been vocal about wanting to see lower 10-year Treasury yields, which could help unthaw the housing market and ease credit conditions. To that end, Bessent said work was being done with U.S. banking regulators on potential changes to the supplementary leverage ratio, and he noted that results could come as soon as this summer. Read: Treasury Secretary Bessent has a plan to bring down long-term yields. But will it work? The Fed purchased trillions of dollars in Treasurys during the 2007-08 global financial crisis and again in 2020, at the start of the pandemic, to reopen credit markets and keep them functioning. The Treasury Department lately has also been repurchasing certain Treasurys that trade less frequently to aid market liquidity. However, bond investors remain anxious that the GOP's massive tax and spending bill could add to the U.S. deficit, which could require more Treasury issuance and keep rates elevated. Trump's chaotic approach to tariffs, with U.S. courts now also in the mix, has also raised concerns about foreigners potentially selling — or simply allocating less to — U.S. assets, including the dollar DXY, stocks and Treasurys. Those fears were evident last week after a weak 20-year Treasury auction spooked investors and stocks dropped. 'I'm not going to panic,' Dimon said Friday, as part of his warning of trouble ahead for the bond market. 'We'll be fine.' JPMorgan shares JPM fell 0.1% Friday but were 10.1% higher on the year so far. The S&P 500 finished the session up 0.5% so far in 2025, while the Dow was 0.6% lower and the Nasdaq Composite was off 1%, according to FactSet. It's my dream to travel to Africa. My husband says it's not on his bucket list. Do I pay for him or go alone? This chart shows why investors should be worried about the latest bond-market selloff My friend is getting divorced. Her husband kindly said, 'Take the house.' Is there a catch? 'What we found horrified us': My elderly relative mistook charity envelopes for overdue bills — and gave thousands to other family members Bond 'vigilantes' are sending warnings globally. What does that mean for your portfolio?
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Natwest returns to private ownership
Natwest has finally re-entered private ownership ending one of British banking's longest-running sagas. The government sold off its remaining 0.26 per cent stake in the group on Friday marking a full exit from the lender. The Treasury's share of the FTSE 100 lender dates back to the 2008 financial crisis. Natwest, then under the Royal Bank of Scotland moniker, received a £46bn bailout from taxpayer funds as it fought for survival. The government acquired an 80 per cent stake in Natwest as part of its rescue plan. The firm was not the only lender bailed out by the government. Lloyds received a £20bn injection for a 43 per cent stake. The Treasury pocketed around £4.9bn in dividend payments during its ownership with fees and other payments topping £5.6bn. However, today the government confirmed a £10.5bn loss to taxpayers since the bank was rescued during the 2008 financial crisis. Natwest follows Lloyds Banking Group, which departed from its status as a partially state-owned enterprise in 2017. Natwest CEO Paul Thwaite said: 'This is a significant moment for Natwest Group, for all those who work here and for the UK more widely. As we turn the page on the financial crisis, we can look to the future with confidence, without forgetting the lessons of the past. 'I am proud to have been part of the team that has helped build a simpler, safer, more customer-focussed bank. It is thanks to the incredible loyalty of our customers and colleagues, along with the support of our shareholders – including the UK taxpayer – that this change has been possible. 'Today we have a strategy that is working, positive momentum in our business and a clear ambition to succeed with our customers. 'This is a sector that matters; strong economies need strong banks, and vice versa. At a time when there is a clear intent to deliver growth, Natwest is ready to step up to the challenge, shaping our future as a vital and trusted partner to our customers and to the UK itself.' Up until 2022, the taxpayer was still the majority shareholder in the company. The government sold a chunk of its shares in March 2022, taking its stake to 48.1 per cent. But in the last year it has accelerated its sell-off to push Natwest back into private ownership. On January 14 2025, the government reduced its stake to 8.9 per cent, following a sale of 86.4m shares. And in early May, Natwest announced the government's holding had fallen below one per cent, averaging a two per cent reduction per month. Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, told : 'We don't know if it has been hands-on or stayed at arms' length, but it's fair to suggest that Natwest has followed the same path as other UK banks since the global financial crisis.' During the bank's annual general meeting, chairman Rick Haythornthwaite said the government had been 'positive and patient through the investing years'. Natwest stock notched a decade high of 478.80p in April, but the figure remains drastically dwarfed by pre-financial crisis highs of 5,236.28p. The lender pocketed £4bn in income for the first-quarter of 2025 after a rush to beat stamp duty deadlines boosted takings. The firm booked £1.8bn in pre-tax profit, surpassing the £1.6bn pencilled in by analysts. As Brits flocked to beat the Chancellor's March 31 deadline, net lending increased by £3.4bn to £371.9bn. Analysts hailed the lender's strategic positioning as operating expenses fell 8.5 per cent to £2bn. John Moore, senior investment manager at RBC Brewin Dolphin, said: 'With some of its peers potentially retreating from the UK, that may open up opportunities for acquisition or other forms of expansion, which would provide further scale while sticking to the three pillars of the bank's strategy.' Natwest lodged an £11bn bid for Santander UK's retail arm earlier this year, according to reports from the Financial Times. Talks between the two lenders are no longer active, but should the takeover have gone ahead it would have birthed the biggest banking deal since the financial crisis. Whilst unsuccessful, the proposal could offer insight into Natwest's future post-privatisiation. The bank kicked off its shopping spree last year after snapping up the majority of Sainsbury's banking assets and purchasing Metro Bank's £2.5bn residential mortgages portfolio. Natwest is set to deliver its half-year results on July 25 – and for the first time in 15 years – in private ownership. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Guardian
13 hours ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Hubris, crisis and scandal: how the NatWest ‘soap opera' unfolded
Hours before the government fired the starting gun on what became a £45bn bailout of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in October 2008, Whitehall was in chaos. Dozens of City bankers, drafted in to support the chancellor, Alistair Darling, were camped along the Treasury building's winding corridors, juggling laptops and mobile phones as they worked to keep the UK's financial system afloat. 'It looked a little bit like an under-stress NHS hospital,' Charles Randell, the government's former legal adviser, recalls. And time was running out. The Labour government, then led by Gordon Brown, had begrudgingly nationalised Northern Rock a year earlier and watched in horror months later as a string of US banks, including Lehman Brothers, went under. RBS bosses including its chair, Tom McKillop, had been summoned to Downing Street and were told that the government would be taking majority ownership in what was then the world's largest lender. There was initial disbelief and then acceptance that their charming but ruthless chief executive, Fred 'the Shred' Goodwin, would have to go. Ministers worked fast over the weekend, knowing there would be consequences if they failed to finalise the bailout by Monday morning. Some even feared that customers, queueing to take out their cash, could turn violent. 'Who knows whether it would have been necessary to bring the army,' says Randell. 'None of that was unimaginable.' At 7am on Monday 13 October, Brown unveiled an 'unprecedented but essential' bailout plan, pumping billions into RBS, as well as into Lloyds, which had recently taken over HBOS, to prevent a financial meltdown. Two subsequent financial injections eventually left the taxpayer with an 84% stake in RBS. 'I recall telling Alistair Darling it could take us 20 years to get the state out of RBS,' says John Kingman, who was then one of the most senior civil servants in the Treasury. He was not far off. It has taken nearly 17 years for the lender – now known as NatWest Group – to fully return to private hands. The government confirmed on Friday that it had sold the state's final shares in the lender, albeit at a £10.5bn loss to the taxpayer. RBS's near-collapse followed a series of acquisitions under Goodwin that had fuelled its rapid international expansion. He followed a £21bn deal to buy NatWest in 2000 with agreements to buy the British insurer Churchill from Credit Suisse, the German credit card business of Santander, and Ireland's First Active, as well as a string of small US banks. The hubris continued, with Goodwin spending £350m to build a lavish campus on the 45-hectare plot of a former psychiatric facility at Gogarburn on the edge of Edinburgh. It included a hairdresser, GP, fitness centre, staff canteen and the CEO's own plush offices, replete with expensive art and gold carpets. In 2007 Goodwin made his largest, and most disastrous, purchase yet, leading a consortium to buy the Dutch bank ABN Amro for £49bn. It was then the biggest deal in financial services history, and for a short period made RBS the biggest bank in the world. With £2.2tn in assets, the group was more than double the size of the UK economy. But the seeds of the financial crisis had taken root. By the autumn, Northern Rock was nationalised, having suffered the first run on a British bank for 150 years. And within a year of the ABN Amro deal, RBS started to wobble. Shareholders were asked to pump in £12bn of new capital after bosses unveiled £5.9bn of credit crunch write-downs. Goodwin also put the insurance businesses, which include Churchill and Direct Line, up for sale. In August 2008, RBS reported its first loss in 40 years, and Lehman Brothers' devastating collapse a month later unleashed a wave of market turmoil. By October, RBS was nationalised, Goodwin was ousted, and the former Abbey National executive Stephen Hester was parachuted in to run the bailed-out bank. In 2011 a report from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) partly blamed the RBS failure on 'light touch' regulation that had allowed it to rely on risky, short-term funding and pursue deals that left it with an inadequate financial cushion. The report also cited 'deficiencies in RBS management, governance and culture which made it prone to make poor decisions'. Goodwin was accused of being slow to say sorry and proceeded to dig his heels in over the £16m pension package – worth £700,000 a year – he received despite being sacked. As outrage built over what was seen as a reward for failure, he eventually gave up more than £200,000 of annual retirement pay and issued a 'profound and unqualified apology for all the distress caused'. He was never formally disciplined for the bank's failures and his inflation-linked payouts have since crept back up to nearly £600,000 a year. But Goodwin's reputation was left in tatters, having been stripped of his knighthood in 2012 amid concerns that he had 'had brought the honours system in to disrepute'. Within months of being installed at RBS, Goodwin's successor announced a radical restructuring plan after reporting the biggest loss in British corporate history, at more than £24bn. Hester would end up cutting more than 39,000 jobs and slashing the size of the bank's balance sheet by £1tn. The banker later said it felt like 'defusing a ticking timebomb'. But Hester sparked controversies of his own. First he butted heads with ministers over pay, having begrudgingly agreed to waive his bonus every year except 2010. Hester said he considered resigning in 2012 when he lost out on £1m due to public pressure. Then, in 2013, scandal returned when the bank was fined £390m for rigging the Libor interest rate, with some of the wrongdoing having taken place on Hester's watch. After five years overseeing what he called an RBS 'soap opera', Hester was forced out. Despite sweeping cuts, he had not shrunk the investment bank as deeply as the then coalition government would have liked, and only managed to take the bank out of 12 of the 50 countries in which Goodwin had planted the RBS flag. He was replaced by the New Zealand banker Ross McEwan, with Howard Davies, the former head of the recently axed FSA, installed as chair. Together they were tasked with exiting another 25 countries and slashing the investment bank. In an attempt to head off further pay rows, George Osborne, then chancellor, scrapped executive bonuses at the bank under a directive that lasted until 2022. He expected cultural change to naturally follow. The goal? To get the group on a stable enough footing, centred on a solid, domestic retail bank, that allowed the government to start selling its shares. McEwan, versed in retail banking, drove the domestic strategy, while Davies tells the Guardian he focused 'trying to sort out the sins of the past in order to put the bank in a position where it was saleable'. That included RBS's role in the US sub-prime mortgage crisis, money laundering allegations, and a scandal involving its defunct Global Restructuring Group (GRG), which was accused of pushing small- and medium-sized businesses into failure and stripping them of their assets. The bank eventually reached a $5.5bn settlement with US regulators in 2017 for mis-selling toxic mortgages. In 2019 it effectively emerged unscathed over the GRG scandal, despite the regulator having found 'systemic and widespread' mistreatment of customers. Two years into the McEwan-Davies era, Osborne kicked off the government's privatisation plan, selling the first tranche of state shares. Davies says the bank did its best to stay the course: 'The bank had had such a formative near-death experience that people had become very conscious that we were not [going to risk] getting into new regulatory issues.' That included axing its motor finance business, a move that proved fortuitous given rival banks such as Lloyds are now embroiled in a car loan commissions scandal. 'We probably left some money on the table by not being in that business … but it was a difficult business to be compliant in, so we basically were out of it,' Davies says. There was also the matter of sticking to EU state aid rules, which required RBS to sell a portion of the business to ensure it was not getting too much of a leg-up compared to peers. It carved out but failed to sell 315 branches under a resurrected Williams & Glyn's brand. An alternative deal with EU regulators eventually led to it closing a swathe of branches and funding a £750m scheme to encourage business customers into the arms of challenger banks and fintechs. The move drew a line under the bailout terms, just as RBS reported its first annual profit in 2018. With that came dividends – including to its largest shareholder, the UK government. 'We desperately wanted to be a normal bank, and we were at last able to make decent returns,' Davies says. 'And it was a vindication of pulling back and pulling down a lot of the parts of the bank that were weighing [us] down.' Davies initially thought the bank would return to private hands by 2020, but the US mortgages fine and Covid crisis put those hopes on ice. Shares fell below 100p during the pandemic, making it hard for the government – which had paid around 500p a share during the bailout – to justify selling at such a discount. By that time, McEwan had stepped down, handing the reins to the longtime NatWest staffer Alison Rose in 2019. The first female CEO of a FTSE-listed bank, she became a City darling, championing diversity and driving cultural change at a lender by then synonymous with scandal. Rose wasted no time making sweeping changes, including a switching the toxic RBS name three months into her tenure to NatWest – Goodwin's first acquisition target. She also took advantage of strong finances to launch billion-pound buybacks of government shares, accelerating the privatisation. After a decade of turmoil, Rose was not only palatable but upheld as a City leader. She was being tapped to lead a state inquiry in female-led business that bore her name, co-chaired a UK energy efficiency taskforce, and sat on the prime minister Rishi Sunak's business council. She was even made a dame in the 2023 new year honours list for helping to restore NatWest to stability and profitability. Then came the controversy and the eventual fall from grace. In summer 2023, it emerged that Coutts, NatWest's private bank for the ultra-wealthy, planned to shut Nigel Farage's bank accounts, sparking fury from the now-MP and Reform UK leader. Farage obtained internal documents showing that the bank had concerns over his political views and launched a campaign centred on what he posed as unfair discrimination by the state-owned bank. The scandal escalated further when it emerged that Rose had discussed Farage's case with a BBC journalist. The Tory government capitulated to media pressure, and in a stark departure from the government's hands-off approach, forced Rose to step down, against the wishes of the NatWest board. A private bank, with no state-owned shares, would have been treated differently, Davies says. And Rose might still have the job. 'I think if they hadn't owned the shares, I hope and expect that chancellor would have said 'nothing to do with us'. So, yes, I think it was totally, totally significant.' A subsequent investigation by an external law firm found no evidence backing Farage's accusations that NatWest was debanking customers based on their political views. But Rose had already been replaced by NatWest's business banking boss Paul Thwaite – a man seen as 'calm and unflappable' by a board members keen for some quiet after another tumultuous period in the political crosshairs. By 2024, Davies, too, was replaced, by the former Network Rail and Mastercard chair Rick Haythornthwaite. The pair are now ushering in a new era for the lender, but at a massive cost to the public. The government has only recouped about £35bn of the more than £45bn it spent rescuing the lender, with the bulk of the government's shares having been sold below the 502p at which they were bought. Shares have only recently surged above that price, leaving the taxpayer with a £10.5bn loss. Haythornthwaite said last month the bank was indebted to the public for keeping the lender afloat. And while Thwaite said he is 'absolutely ambitious for the bank' as it returns to private ownership, he insisted bosses are not going to repeat the mistakes of the past. For now, that could mean running a much more 'boring' bank. 'If boring means being thoughtful about risk versus reward, and driving better returns for shareholders, then I'm absolutely comfortable with that.'
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Government sells final stake in NatWest 17 years after bailout
The Government last night sold its final stake in NatWest 17 years after rescuing the bank in a £45.5billion bailout. The lender, then known as RBS, teetered on the brink of collapse until Gordon Brown's Labour government stepped in to save it in 2008. Last night's sale of a £200m chunk of the lender by the Treasury marked the end of troubling chapter which started during the financial crisis. The RBS rescue was the biggest in a series of interventions by the Government which also saw it take a large stake in Lloyds Banking Group – with the last chunk of that lender sold in 2017. Chancellor Rachel Reeves last night said the 2008 bailout 'protected the economy' as it stopped the bank's collapse during the financial crisis. 'That was the right decision,' Reeves said. 'NatWest's return to private ownership turns the page on a significant chapter in this country's history.' NatWest chairman Rick Haythornthwaite said: 'We remain deeply grateful to the Government – and to UK taxpayers – for their intervention and support. This intervention stabilised our banking system and, by extension, our economy – protecting millions of savers, homeowners and businesses.' The bailout followed a period of expansion by then boss Fred 'The Shred' Goodwin (pictured right), including the ill-advised purchase of Dutch lender ABN Amro in 2007, briefly making RBS the biggest bank in the world. The decision by then-Chancellor Alistair Darling to take control of RBS was later described by Goodwin as a 'drive-by shooting'. But the banker was removed as a condition of the rescue and, in 2012, stripped of his knighthood – awarded only eight years earlier. He still rakes in nearly £600,000 a year in pension payments. Scandals continued to plague the bank, including claims it that deliberately drove struggling business customers to the wall in order to seize its assets and shore up RBS's balance sheet. It later admitted it had made mistakes. Boss Alison Rose was forced to quit in 2023 after a de-banking row involving Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. She was succeeded by Paul Thwaite (pictured left). RBS renamed itself NatWest group in 2020 as it sought to distance itself from its association with the financial crisis. Last summer, the Government still owned 20 per cent of the bank – but the amount has gradually dwindled since as shares were drip-fed on to the market. Taxpayer dealt loss of £30bn Taxpayers have taken a hit of more than £30billion on the bailout of NatWest. The Treasury said that it clawed back £35billion in share sales, dividends and fees from its £45.5billion outlay. That left it with a headline loss of £10.5billion. However, figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility show the Government has also taken a £20billion hit from financing costs, leaving the taxpayer more than £30billion in the red overall. At the time of the government bailout in October 2008, ministers believed there was a real risk the bank could collapse with devastating consequences. A Treasury spokesman last night said: 'Allowing the bank to fail would have devastated people's savings, mortgages and livelihoods – and shattered confidence in the UK's financial system.'
