NatWest Group plc
- Open
- 18.75
- Day high
- 18.79
- Day low
- 18.69
- Prev close
- 18.59
- Volume
- 408K
- Mkt cap
- $74.6B
- P/E (TTM)
- 4.6
- EPS (TTM)
- $4.06
- P/B
- 1.3
- P/S
- 1.8
- Yield
- 4.94%
- Per share
- $0.93
NatWest Group plc (NWG) is a Financial Services company listed on NYSE. The stock is up 34% over the past year. Drillr has 1 published research article covering NWG.
NatWest Group plc (NWG) financials & analyst ratings
Fundamentals (TTM)
Analyst consensus · 2 analysts
Source: exchange market data + company filings. Figures are trailing-twelve-month or as most recently reported. For informational purposes only — not investment advice.
NWG earnings date, history & EPS estimates
| Report date | EPS est | EPS actual | Surprise | Revenue | Rev. surprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 31, 2026 | $0.45 | $0.54 | +19.7% | $6.1B | -2.9% |
| May 1, 2026 | $0.44 | $0.48 | +8.6% | $5.9B | -6.1% |
| Feb 13, 2026 | $0.38 | $0.46 | +20.4% | $9.9B | +74.0% |
| Oct 24, 2025 | $0.42 | $0.53 | +26.8% | $10.2B | +77.2% |
| Jul 25, 2025 | $0.37 | $0.41 | +11.7% | $9.9B | +78.2% |
| May 2, 2025 | $0.34 | $0.39 | +15.0% | $9.4B | +76.2% |
| Feb 14, 2025 | $0.26 | $0.37 | +42.3% | $9.1B | +92.2% |
| Oct 25, 2024 | $0.38 | $0.36 | -4.3% | $4.6B | -1.7% |
| Jul 26, 2024 | $24.07 | $0.35 | -98.5% | $4.7B | +7.7% |
| Apr 26, 2024 | $0.24 | $0.26 | +10.2% | $4.4B | +2.3% |
| Feb 16, 2024 | $0.20 | $0.34 | +70.0% | $4.4B | +3.6% |
| Oct 27, 2023 | $0.28 | $0.26 | -7.1% | $4.0B | -8.5% |
NatWest Group plc company profile
Overview
NatWest Group plc (LSE:NWG) is one of the United Kingdom's largest retail and commercial banking institutions, with roots tracing back to 1727. Originally known as The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, the company underwent significant restructuring following the 2008 financial crisis and was renamed NatWest Group in July 2020. The bank has been gradually returning to private ownership, with the UK government's shareholding reduced from over 80% post-crisis to under 16% as of 2024. Headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, NatWest operates approximately 800 branches and 16,000 physical points of presence across the UK and internationally, serving millions of personal, commercial, corporate, and institutional customers.
Business
NatWest Group operates as a diversified banking institution providing comprehensive financial services across multiple customer segments. The banking industry serves as the financial intermediary between savers and borrowers, taking deposits from customers and lending money to individuals and businesses while earning profit from the interest rate spread. Banks also generate revenue through various fee-based services, investment products, and financial advisory services. The company operates through five main business segments: 1. Retail Banking (~40% of group operating profit): This segment serves individual consumers and small businesses, offering current accounts, savings accounts, mortgages, personal loans, credit cards, and mobile banking services. This traditional banking business forms the core of most retail banks' operations, providing basic financial services to everyday consumers. 2. Commercial Banking (~35% of group operating profit): Focuses on small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs), commercial clients, and mid-market corporate customers, providing business loans, cash management, trade finance, and specialized banking solutions. This segment bridges the gap between retail banking and large corporate banking. 3. Private Banking (~10% of group operating profit): Caters to high-net-worth individuals and their business interests, offering wealth management, investment advisory services, private banking, and bespoke financial solutions. Private banking typically serves clients with investable assets exceeding £1 million. 4. RBS International (~10% of group operating profit): Provides banking services to institutional customers and operates wholesale branches, primarily serving international corporate clients and offering fund depositary services. 5. NatWest Markets (~5% of group operating profit): The investment banking arm that provides corporate and institutional clients with risk management services, capital markets solutions, foreign exchange, and fixed income products to help manage financial risks and achieve strategic financial objectives.
Revenue model
NatWest generates revenue through multiple interconnected banking business models. The primary revenue source is net interest income, which accounts for approximately 75-80% of total income. This traditional banking model involves borrowing money from depositors at low interest rates and lending it to borrowers at higher rates, profiting from the spread. The bank's net interest margin currently runs around 205 basis points (2.05%). The company also generates substantial non-interest income through various fee-based services including account maintenance fees, transaction fees, foreign exchange services, investment management fees, and advisory services. This diversified revenue stream provides approximately 20-25% of total income and helps reduce dependence on interest rate cycles. Several factors significantly impact NatWest's profitability margins. Interest rate environments are the most critical factor - rising rates generally benefit net interest margins as loan rates adjust faster than deposit rates, while falling rates compress margins. The bank maintains a structural hedge of approximately £175 billion to smooth income volatility from rate changes. Deposit competition affects funding costs, as customers become more rate-sensitive in higher interest rate environments, forcing banks to offer more competitive deposit rates. Credit quality directly impacts profitability through loan loss provisions - economic downturns increase default rates and require higher provisions. Regulatory capital requirements influence the bank's ability to grow lending and return capital to shareholders, with NatWest maintaining a CET1 ratio of 13-14%. Operational efficiency is crucial, with the bank targeting cost-income ratios below 60% through digitization and simplification initiatives. Finally, market competition from traditional banks, fintech companies, and challenger banks affects both lending margins and deposit costs, requiring continuous investment in technology and customer experience to maintain market share.
Competitive moat
NatWest's competitive moat is moderate but faces increasing pressure from technological disruption and regulatory changes. The bank's primary defensive advantages stem from its extensive physical and digital infrastructure, regulatory compliance capabilities, and established customer relationships built over nearly three centuries of operation. The company benefits from significant scale advantages in the UK market, where it holds meaningful market share in key segments like mortgages (10.5% flow share) and credit cards (9.3% market share). This scale provides cost advantages in technology investments, regulatory compliance, and funding costs. The bank's deposit franchise represents a valuable moat, as customer deposits provide a stable, low-cost funding source that is difficult for competitors to replicate quickly. Regulatory barriers create substantial entry costs for new competitors, requiring significant capital, complex compliance systems, and banking licenses. However, this traditional moat is weakening as regulators encourage competition through open banking initiatives and lower barriers for fintech companies. The bank's switching costs provide some customer retention benefits, as consumers and businesses often maintain long-term banking relationships due to the complexity of changing primary financial providers. However, digital transformation and open banking are reducing these switching costs over time. NatWest faces significant competitive threats from multiple directions. Fintech disruptors are targeting specific banking services with superior digital experiences and lower costs. Big Tech companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon are entering financial services with vast resources and existing customer relationships. Challenger banks such as Monzo and Starling Bank are gaining market share with mobile-first approaches and innovative features. Additionally, traditional competitors are investing heavily in digital transformation, intensifying competition for deposits and loans. The company's moat strength is moderately defensive in the near term due to scale and regulatory advantages, but faces long-term erosion risk from technological disruption and changing customer preferences toward digital-native financial services providers.
Risks & safety
NatWest demonstrates a strong margin of safety with robust capital position and conservative risk management, though faces typical banking sector cyclical risks. • Capital Strength: CET1 ratio of 13.6% well above regulatory minimums, providing substantial buffer for economic stress. Strong capital generation enables consistent shareholder returns. • Liquidity Position: £149 billion in cash and short-term investments, current ratio of 1.62x, indicating strong short-term liquidity management typical of major banks. • Credit Quality: Loan impairment rates below 15 basis points, indicating disciplined underwriting. Well-diversified loan portfolio across segments and geographies reduces concentration risk. • Valuation Metrics: Trading at 0.74x price-to-book ratio and 6.0x price-to-earnings ratio, suggesting reasonable valuation relative to book value and earnings. • Debt Structure: As a bank, high debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12x is normal due to deposit-funded business model. Strong regulatory capital ratios more relevant than traditional debt metrics. • Profitability: Return on tangible equity of 16.4% demonstrates strong profitability. Consistent dividend policy with 40% payout ratio provides income visibility. • Other Considerations: Government shareholding reduction from 38% to 19% removes overhang. Exposure to UK economic cycles and interest rate sensitivity remain key risks. Strong cost management and digitization efforts support long-term competitiveness.
Recent development
Over the past few years, NatWest has executed a comprehensive transformation strategy focused on three core pillars: disciplined growth, bank-wide simplification, and active balance sheet management. The bank has successfully reduced operational complexity by consolidating telephony systems from 20 to 5 platforms and reducing strategic hubs from three to two by closing Poland operations. This simplification drive aims to improve efficiency and reduce the cost-income ratio. The company has pursued strategic acquisitions to accelerate growth, including the £2.5 billion Metro Bank mortgage portfolio acquisition and the pending Sainsbury's Bank transaction expected to add 1 million customer accounts. These moves demonstrate a disciplined approach to inorganic growth while maintaining focus on returns. Digital transformation has been a major focus, with the enhancement of AI-powered customer interaction tools like Cora and the digitization of customer journeys in commercial banking. The bank reports 90% of retail customers and 84% of commercial customers now use digital channels, reflecting successful technology adoption. NatWest has significantly expanded its climate and sustainable finance capabilities, providing £29 billion in climate financing in 2023 and reaching £85.4 billion in total climate and sustainable funding toward its £100 billion target by 2025. This positions the bank well for the growing ESG financing market. The bank has also executed a systematic capital return program, completing multiple share buybacks totaling over £1 billion while maintaining strong capital ratios. The UK government's shareholding has been reduced from over 80% post-financial crisis to under 16% in 2024, effectively completing the bank's return to full private ownership. Risk management enhancements include reducing risk-weighted assets by £4.3 billion while maintaining disciplined lending standards, with loan impairment rates remaining below 20 basis points throughout the economic uncertainty period.
NWG company profile · for informational purposes only — not investment advice.
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