NatWest results 2023: bank’s profit booms to £3.589bn beating forecasts amid Nigel Farage account closure row

NatWest has announced a boom in profits which have risen to £3.589bn, up from £2.62bn in the same period a year ago.

The figure is better than the £3.3bn which City analysts had expected.

The lender, which is backed by the taxpayer, has benefited from higher interest rates, which has pushed up the cost of borrowing, and greater mortgage lending.

The banking group also announced an interim dividend of 5.5p per share on Thursday (28 July) which will return around £492m to shareholders.

As the UK government owns 38.53% of NatWest this means £190m will go to the government on 15 September.

Katie Murray, NatWest’s chief financial officer commented, said the bank registered a “strong performance” in the first half of 2023.

She added that NatWest’s loan arrears (customers falling behind in repaying their debts) remained low, but many people, families and businesses are “really struggling”.

The bank’s latest results will serve as a final report card on the performance of former CEO Alison Rose, who was forced to resign after she admitted she had spoken to the BBC about Nigel Farage’s bank accounts.

At the end of June, Mr Farage said a bank, later confirmed as Coutts (owned by NatWest), had decided to stop doing business with him.

He said a letter from the bank contained no explanation and over the phone he was told it was a "commercial decision".

On Twitter he said: "The establishment are trying to force me out of the UK by closing my bank accounts."

In a second video posted to Twitter he said he had been rejected from having bank accounts by nine different companies.

On 4 July, a BBC report claimed the bank did not want his custom because he did not have enough money in his accounts.

After Coutts first told him they were cutting ties, Mr Farage submitted a subject access request to them where he then received a document which included all of the evidence Coutts had accumulated about him.

It revealed staff at the bank spent months compiling evidence on the "significant reputational risks of being associated with him".

The document suggested the move was taken partly because his views did not align with the firm’s "values",

On 24 July, the BBC issued an apology to Mr Farage over the story as it had "turned out not to be accurate".

NatWest chief executive Alison Rose admitted she had been the source of an inaccurate story about Mr Farage’s bank account and resigned on 26 July.

In the latest development Coutts chief executive Peter Flavel has also stepped down.

Mr Farage tweeted that Flavel was responsible for “de-banking” the former Ukip politician and “it was only a matter of time before Peter Flavel, Coutts CEO, stood down”.