NatWest suffers 25% revenue drop as bank faces "extraordinary challenges"

A UK bank has reported that its revenues have dropped by nearly 25 per cent over the past year.

NatWest announced today that its full year revenues for 2020 totalled £10,796m, a 24.3 per cent fall from the previous year’s £14,253m.

Across the period, the bank’s profits also decreased, dropping by from £4,232m in 2019 to a loss of £351m.

The company said that the decrease was a result of reductions across retail and commercial businesses as the spread of coronavirus affected trading.

Alison Rose, CEO of NatWest, commented: “The past year presented some extraordinary challenges for our customers, colleagues and communities.

“We provided exceptional levels of support to those who needed it, including the approval of over £14bn of lending under UK government schemes, demonstrating that we have truly put our purpose at the heart of this business.

“Being purpose-led isn’t just the right thing to do, it has a powerful commercial imperative and is fundamental to building sustainable value in our business.

“Despite reporting a loss for the year, NatWest Group delivered a resilient underlying performance in a challenging operating environment.

“The bank continued to grow in key areas such as mortgages and commercial lending and our balance sheet remains strong, with one of the highest capital ratios amongst our UK and European peers.

“We have today announced our intention to pay a final dividend whilst reaffirming our commitment to regular capital returns for shareholders in the future.

“We made strong progress in executing the strategy we set out in February 2020 as we build a relationship bank for a digital world; a bank that will meet the rapidly evolving needs of our customers at different stages of their lives through an ever-increasing focus on digital and transformation. In turn, this will drive sustainable, long-term returns to our shareholders.

“We cannot be certain of the long-term impact of the pandemic. But we can be certain that our bank will continue to support those who need it most as we build back better.

“By championing potential and helping people, families and businesses to rebuild and thrive, we will succeed together.”

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