NatWest to disclose £500m in bonus awards for 2025 - report

12th Feb 2026 15:31

(Sharecast News) - NatWest Group will reportedly disclose on Friday that it awarded bonuses of nearly £500m last year, as it returned to full private ownership 17 years after it was rescued by taxpayers.

According to Sky News, the lender will announce alongside its annual results that its bonus pool for 2025 was just over £490m, up 10% on the previous year.

The rise will be broadly in line with the hikes awarded by rival UK banks such as Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group, and comes as NatWest's shares trade at levels rarely seen in close to two decades.

Earlier this week, NatWest said it was buying wealth manager Evelyn Partners for £2.7bn in its biggest corporate acquisition since Royal Bank of Scotland - as it was known then - was bailed out with a £45.5bn equity injection in 2008.

The lender, which at one point was more than 80% state-owned, returned to full private sector ownership last May.