London, Feb 15, 2026, 11:17 GMT — The session has ended.
- NatWest closed out Friday at 580.2p, slipping 2.49%. Some 82 million shares traded.
- The lender posted a 2025 pretax operating profit of £7.7 billion and bumped up its RoTE goal to above 18% by 2028. It’s also planning a £750 million H1 buyback.
- UK inflation figures land on Feb 18, a data point traders will watch for any hint on rate-cut timing—and bank shares could react.
NatWest Group Plc (NWG.L) ended Friday at 580.2 pence, slipping 2.5% after moving between 565p and 609p during the session. Roughly 82 million shares changed hands. Over in New York, the bank’s ADRs (NWG) last traded at $16.07, off about 1.6%.
Investors sifted through NatWest’s annual report and a new batch of medium-term goals after the bank posted a 2025 pretax profit of 7.7 billion pounds ($10.5 billion). NatWest also bumped up its return on tangible equity, or RoTE, target to above 18% by 2028, up from a previous goal of over 15% in 2027. “We are raising our ambition and sharpening our strategic focus, with stretching new targets in place,” CEO Paul Thwaite said. Reuters
At the heart of that target bump: NatWest’s wealth management ambitions, with a planned £2.7 billion buyout of Evelyn Partners front and center. “Although we consider this to be a bolt on transaction, it would be transformational, filling the gap NWG has in its affluent wealth offering,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Benjamin Toms wrote. Jefferies, for its part, flagged that the price tag might trim earnings per share by around 2% through 2028 if the deal goes through. Reuters
NatWest, in its announcement, said it will use existing funds to pay for the deal, a move that’s set to knock about 130 basis points off its core equity tier 1 ratio. The group sees the transaction closing by summer 2026. NatWest is targeting roughly 100 million pounds in annual cost synergies but expects to shell out close to 150 million pounds to reach that. The bank flagged its next share buyback update would come alongside first-half 2027 results.
NatWest snapped up 880,853 shares Thursday at an average price of 607.78 pence, according to a separate filing. The bank is carrying out the repurchases through Merrill Lynch International (BofA) as part of its ongoing buyback programme, the filing noted.
Investors eye the upcoming dividend schedule, too. NatWest wants to hand out a final dividend of 23.0 pence a share for 2025. The shares go ex-dividend March 19; if the AGM signs off on April 28, payment lands May 5.
On Friday, NatWest dialed back some of its restrictions on fossil-fuel financing, scrapping several prohibitions on oil and gas lending and sparking debate. ShareAction responded by urging investors to vote against chair Richard Haythornethwaite at the upcoming annual meeting. NatWest’s sustainability boss Kirsty Britz defended the move, citing “the complexity of the economic transition”. Reuters
The outlook isn’t straightforward. Evelyn is still waiting for regulatory approval and must follow through on its cost-saving commitments—any holdup could prompt investors to question how soon capital might come back. Meanwhile, the climate-policy dispute could spill into the AGM, potentially complicating NatWest’s efforts to broaden its shareholder reach.
London’s trading floor reopens Monday, giving investors a shot at gauging if the raised target and buyback offer any real support after last week’s turbulence. The next key event lands Feb 18, when the Office for National Statistics drops its UK inflation figures—a release closely watched for its impact on rate bets and banking shares.
