LONDON, July 3, 2026, 14:05 (BST)
- NatWest slipped 0.38% to 676.00p by 14:01 BST, trading 5.81 million shares. That’s below the average volume of 22.88 million.
- NatWest’s £2.7 billion acquisition of Evelyn Partners brings the bank’s combined AUMA to £127 billion, with the transaction taking about 130 basis points off its CET1 ratio.
- NatWest is set for its first full guidance test on July 31, when it will post H1 2026 results at 7 a.m. BST.
NatWest Group Plc (LON:NWG) slipped 0.38% to 676.00p in London Friday, trading close to other UK banks. The FTSE 100 also moved lower. London markets kept regular hours, with LSE open from 0800 to 1630 BST.
NatWest has finished its buy of Evelyn Partners, putting a new focus on the stock. Shares now trade less like a simple rates play. Investors are watching to see if fee growth, cutting costs and using capital will pay off soon enough. The shift is bigger than the earlier soft move—now it’s about the whole balance sheet.
Google Finance and broker numbers showed NatWest was still priced lower on P/E than Barclays, Lloyds or HSBC, with the top yield among them.
| Company | Google Finance ticker | Share price around 1400 BST | 1-day move | P/E | Dividend yield | Market cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NatWest Group | LON:NWG | 676.00p | down 0.38% | 9.68 | 4.81% | £53.86 bln |
| Barclays | LON:BARC | 520.30p | off 0.34% | 12.03 | 1.65% | £70.24 bln |
| Lloyds Banking Group | LON:LLOY | 114.05p | fell 0.52% | 14.85 | 3.20% | £66.44 bln |
| HSBC Holdings | LON:HSBA | 1,445.24p | unchanged | 15.92 | 3.85% | £248.14 bln |
NatWest completed its £2.7 billion enterprise-value buy of Evelyn on June 30. Evelyn reported £69 billion in assets under management and administration at the end of 2025, ahead of NatWest’s £59 billion. The merged wealth business now has £127 billion in AUMA and £188 billion in customer assets and liabilities. CEO Paul Thwaite said the platform will “offer a broader range of products, services and advice to over 20 million customers.” SEC
Valuation was in question from the start when the deal came out. RBC Capital Markets analyst Benjamin Toms called it “transformational” for NatWest’s wealth platform, but pointed out the bank’s usual strength with high-net-worth clients has been through Coutts. The Wall Street Journal
Markets are reading this as tighter. The deal price is roughly 5% of NatWest’s market cap, and around 3.9% of Evelyn’s projected AUMA for end-2025. The capital impact is immediate. NatWest is looking for about £100 million in annual run-rate cost synergies, with about £150 million in costs to get there.
| Evelyn deal item | Figure | Investor read-through |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase price | £2.7 bln enterprise value | Roughly 5% of NatWest’s market value now |
| Evelyn AUMA | £69 bln | Deal price is about 3.9% of client assets |
| Combined AUMA | £127 bln | More than double what NatWest expected for AUMA by end-2025 |
| Fee-income effect | c.20% uplift before revenue synergies | If it plays out, less dependence on net interest |
| Cost synergies | c.£100 mln annual run-rate | Just scaling up is not enough – has to deliver |
| Costs to achieve | c.£150 mln | Heavy hit up front |
| CET1 effect | c.130 bps reduction | Buybacks and buffer still an open question |
NatWest’s Q1 results give management a bit of leeway. The bank posted operating profit before tax of £2.03 billion, return on tangible equity at 18.2%, and CET1 at 14.3% at March 31. Income guidance, stripping out notable items and before the Evelyn piece, is now at the top end of the £17.2 billion to £17.6 billion range.
| NatWest metric | Q1 2026 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net interest income | £3.394 bln | £3.441 bln | £3.026 bln |
| Total income | £4.358 bln | £4.324 bln | £3.980 bln |
| Operating profit before tax | £2.033 bln | £1.940 bln | £1.812 bln |
| Attributable profit | £1.432 bln | £1.393 bln | £1.252 bln |
| Net interest margin | 2.47% | 2.45% | 2.27% |
| RoTE | 18.2% | 18.3% | 18.5% |
NatWest’s Q1 slides put NIM at 2.47%, up 20 bps year-on-year. The bank also sees structural hedge income growing by about £1.5 billion in 2026 and £1 billion in 2027. That’s earnings support Evelyn has to build on, not swap out. The rates engine is still running.
The UK economy gave investors little support Friday as the June services PMI dropped to 48.8, its lowest since January 2023. The composite PMI slipped to 49.3. Tim Moore, economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said June figures showed “a clear loss of momentum” after what had been a stronger start to the year. The Guardian
Politics also feeds into the bank model. The bank-tax debate is back after the Trades Union Congress said putting the bank surcharge back to earlier levels might bring in £9 billion in four years. UK Finance, quoted in the same report, put the UK bank sector’s total effective tax rate at roughly 46.4%, which is higher than Frankfurt or New York.
NatWest is facing a new legal threat after the Financial Times said its Royal Bank of Scotland arm was hit with a lawsuit from liquidators linked to the Thurrock council scandal. The claim totals over £250 million, FT reported. NatWest didn’t comment, but plans to fight the case, according to the paper.
NatWest plans to start consolidating Evelyn Partners on June 30. It will update on the effect to full-year 2026 guidance during interim results on July 31. Management will present at 9 a.m. BST, the company said.
