FORM 6-K
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington D.C. 20549
Report of Foreign Private Issuer
Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
For
April 23, 2024
Commission
File Number: 001-10306
NatWest
Group plc
Gogarburn,
PO Box 1000
Edinburgh
EH12 1HQ
(Address
of principal executive offices)
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual
reports under cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F.
Form
20-F X Form 40-F
___
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the information
contained in this Form is also thereby furnishing the information
to the Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934.
Yes ___
No X
If
"Yes" is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the
registrant in connection with Rule 12g3-2(b): 82-
________
The following information was issued as Company announcements
in London, England and is furnished pursuant to General Instruction
B to the General Instructions to Form
6-K:
NatWest Group
plc
Annual General Meeting Statements
23 April 2024
NatWest Group plc will hold its Annual General Meeting at 11:00am
today. The meeting will deal with the proposed resolutions as set
out in the Notice of Meeting previously issued to
shareholders.
The following is an extract from the remarks to be made by Chair,
Rick Haythornthwaite and Chief Executive Officer, Paul Thwaite at
the meeting.
Rick Haythornthwaite
As I said at the time of my appointment in September, it is a great
privilege to assume this role. The NatWest bank that I inherit is
consistently profitable, significantly stronger, and undoubtedly
more customer focused than the one that my predecessor Sir Howard
Davies took on in July 2015. We should not underestimate how much
this bank has transformed in recent years. Where Howard was faced
with fixing the issues of the past, I take on the role of Chair
with a mandate to help shape NatWest's future.
Clearly 2023 was an exceptional year, that brought challenges for
our customers, our sector, and the economy, as families and
businesses faced into the fastest rate rise cycle since the 1970s
with persistently high levels of inflation. The year brought
unexpected challenges for the bank, but our foundations and
performance are strong, in fact profits
for 2023
were at the highest level they have been since before the 2008
financial crisis.
Since my appointment was announced, the question I have been asked
repeatedly is "why did you take on this role?" For me, the answer
was simple. I care about the UK. And this bank plays a vital role
in our economy, and the lives of its 19 million
customers.
I firmly believe the role of a Board is to champion a good growth
agenda - not just for the bank - but across all regions of the
UK. Because a strong economy matters to NatWest Group, and a
strong NatWest Group matters to the economy. To that end, I am here
for one reason and that is to help NatWest be the best bank it can
be for its customers, for the UK economy and for you, our
shareholders.
When I joined the Board in January, my first priority was to
appoint a permanent Chief Executive Officer. Following a rigorous
and competitive search process, the Board agreed that Paul Thwaite
was the outstanding candidate for the role. In
Paul, I know we have a CEO who brings unrivalled knowledge of our
business, understands what matters to our customers, and will shape
the future of NatWest Group. The
banking sector is evolving rapidly and as a Board, we believe he
has the skills to succeed in this changing landscape and,
importantly, to make the most of the opportunities it
presents. Under
Paul's leadership, the bank is moving into a new era; and a return
to private ownership is now in sight. Paul
and I are ambitious for this bank and it's our shared view that in
delivering for our customers, we will deliver for
you, our shareholders.
With that, I will now hand over to Paul to provide an update on the
business and our priorities.
Paul Thwaite
This is one of the most important dates in the NatWest Group
calendar. It's when you hear directly from us. But more
importantly, it's an opportunity for us to hear directly from you
and to answer your questions.
Firstly, it is an honour to lead NatWest Group. And with it I feel
a great sense of responsibility to succeed for our customers,
colleagues, and you, our shareholders. As Rick has emphasised,
NatWest Group plays a vital role in the lives of our 19 million
customers across the country and an essential contribution to the
UK economy.
We have a strong bank which is performing well, underpinned by
leading positions across our three customer businesses from which
to create further long-term value for shareholders. This was
demonstrated in our 2023 Full Year financial results. During an
uncertain economic environment, we delivered for our customers, our
shareholders, and the wider UK economy,
generating sustainable
profits and attractive returns - with our operating profit up 20%
on 2022. Fundamentally
this performance was grounded in the support we provided to our
customers.
Last year we:
● Lent
an additional £9 billion into the UK economy - supporting
business owners and homeowners,
● Opened
over 100,000 new start-up accounts for entrepreneurs and more than
1.5 million savings accounts for individuals,
● As
well as helping 379,000 Retail banking customers to buy or
re-mortgage their home.
I strongly believe that by being there throughout our customers'
lives and meeting their changing needs, we can build long-term
value, allowing us to invest for growth and drive attractive
returns for shareholders. As we look to 2024 and beyond, I am
optimistic about the opportunities ahead. This is an exciting time
for our sector and, importantly, for our bank.
The needs and expectations of customers are changing at pace, as
they engage with emerging technology, adapt to new social trends,
and build ever more resilience to a fast-evolving
world. This
time of change presents an opportunity for us to grow with our
customers by becoming a trusted partner to them. By doing so,
I am confident we can shape the future of NatWest Group to deliver
its full potential.
Through the continued macro uncertainty in the UK and geo-political
uncertainty overseas, we remain focused on the things we can
control. This is reflected in our priorities we have set for the
year ahead. Our first and number one priority is to serve our
customers well to deliver disciplined and profitable growth. I
believe that there are significant opportunities to drive further
growth across our three customer business;
becoming a
trusted partner to our customers, with services that meet more of
their needs today and, in the future. In doing so, we will
help build a growing economy across all nations and regions of the
UK and make a valuable contribution to wider society.
As the UK's largest commercial bank, with an unmatched network of
relationship managers with sector and regional
expertise, we
are helping businesses of all sizes, in all regions to
grow. We
are also driving investment and innovation in the UK through our
support of start-ups, growth sectors, and as the biggest lender to
infrastructure. And our support to families and individuals is
integral to the economy, including as one of the country's biggest
mortgage lenders, helping people to buy and refinance their homes.
We have a proven ability of building market share in new business
areas, including at the start of customers' financial lives. For
example, in Youth, where we are helping future generations to
develop good money habits and now serve around one in five young
people.
Secondly, we are prioritising bank-wide simplification to become
more efficient and effective, making it easier for our customers to
do business with us and improving engagement and productivity for
our colleagues. We are re-focussing our investment spend into
activity that will help us achieve this. The programmes and pilots
we ran in 2023 have shown us the potential. For example, working
with our technology partners we have consolidated five legacy
systems into one single customer platform in our retail business.
This has enabled us to spend more time with customers and improve
the quality of our interactions. And with the use of artificial
intelligence, there are material opportunities to pursue further
customer benefits and increase efficiency. A bank wide exercise in
2023 identified over 100 priority use cases for AI to address
manual operations processes and wider controls. Ultimately, we want
to build a NatWest Group that is simpler and more productive to
better serve our customers.
And thirdly, we are committed to managing our investment, capital,
and costs effectively.
We have a strong track record of controlling costs and, alongside
efficient capital allocation, we will continue to generate the
capital to invest in NatWest's future, whilst delivering attractive
distributions to shareholders. I
am confident that these actions will deliver long-term sustainable
value for our customers, shareholders, and the wider UK
economy.
To conclude, we delivered a strong performance in 2023, we have
clear priorities for the years ahead and we are ambitious and
optimistic for NatWest. Fundamentally,
I want us to be the very best bank we can be for our customers and
for our shareholders. Our achievements would not be possible
without the continued efforts and dedication of our colleagues, so
I would like to finish by thanking every one of them for making a
contribution to serving our customers day in day
out.
Rick Haythornthwaite
As Paul outlined, delivering sustainable returns to our
shareholders is a key focus for the bank's management team and for
the Board. As a Board, we serve this bank at the behest of you, our
shareholders. This remains front of mind in each and every
decision we make.
We have a strong track record of distributing surplus capital to
shareholders and this intention has not changed; we remain
committed to a 40% pay-out ratio on distributions. We were pleased
to announce £3.6 billion of capital returned to our
shareholders for 2023. This was achieved through the payment of an
interim dividend of £500 million and a proposed final dividend
of £1 billion, which we have asked you to vote in favour of
today. We completed a further £500 million on-market buyback
in Q1'24 and announced a new on-market buyback of £300 million
in February, which we expect to be completed by the end of July.
And we were also pleased to have the opportunity to buy back
£1.3 billion of shares directly from His Majesty's
Treasury.
In 2008, the government stepped in to save the financial system
from collapse. Today we have strong, well performing banks, which
are supporting customers and contributing positively to the British
economy. Government ownership of NatWest now stands below 29%,
having started the year at almost 38%. And we are pleased
that the government remains committed to fully exiting its NatWest
shareholding by 2025 to 2026. This is a shared ambition which we
believe is in the best interests of the bank and our shareholders.
Good progress has been made in recent months and I am confident
that this leadership team will see the return to full private
ownership.
The Chancellor used his Spring Budget last month to confirm the
government's intention to sell part of its shareholding to retail
investors. He said the sale would take place this summer at the
earliest, subject to supportive market conditions. And we
will work closely with UKGI and His Majesty's Treasury if the
government does decide to launch a retail campaign.
To conclude: we are ambitious, optimistic, and focussed on
delivering for our customers, and in turn our shareholders and the
UK economy.
Forward-looking statements
This announcement may include forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995, such as statements that include, without limitation,
the words 'expect', 'estimate', 'project', 'anticipate', 'commit',
'believe', 'should', 'intend', 'will', 'plan', 'could',
'probability', 'risk', 'Value-at-Risk (VaR)', 'target', 'goal',
'objective', 'may', 'endeavour', 'outlook', 'optimistic',
'prospects' and similar expressions or variations on these
expressions. These statements concern or may affect future matters,
such as NatWest Group's future economic results, business plans and
strategies. In
particular, this announcement may include forward-looking
statements relating to NatWest Group plc in respect of, but not
limited to: its economic and political risks, its financial
position, profitability and financial performance (including
financial, capital, cost savings and operational targets), the
implementation of its strategy, its climate and
sustainability-related targets, increasing competition from
incumbents, challengers and new entrants and disruptive
technologies, its access to adequate sources of liquidity and
funding, its regulatory capital position and related requirements,
its exposure to third party risks, its ongoing compliance with the
UK ring-fencing regime and ensuring operational continuity in
resolution, its impairment losses and credit exposures under
certain specified scenarios, substantial regulation and oversight,
ongoing legal, regulatory and governmental actions and
investigations, and NatWest Group's exposure to operational risk,
conduct risk, cyber, data and IT risk, financial crime risk, key
person risk and credit rating risk. Forward-looking
statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that
might cause actual results and performance to differ materially
from any expected future results or performance expressed or
implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause
or contribute to differences in current expectations include, but
are not limited to, future growth initiatives (including
acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic partnerships), the
outcome of legal, regulatory and governmental actions and
investigations, the level and extent of future impairments and
write-downs, legislative, political, fiscal and regulatory
developments, accounting standards, competitive conditions,
technological developments, interest and exchange rate
fluctuations, general economic and political conditions and the
impact of climate-related risks and the transitioning to a net zero
economy. These and other factors, risks and uncertainties that may
impact any forward-looking statement or NatWest Group plc's actual
results are discussed in NatWest Group plc's 2023 Annual Report on
Form 20-F, and
its other public filings. The forward-looking statements contained
in this announcement speak only as of the date of this announcement
and NatWest Group plc does not assume or undertake any obligation
or responsibility to update any of the forward-looking statements
contained in this announcement, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent
legally required.
Legal Entity Identifier:
2138005O9XJIJN4JPN90
Date: 23
April 2024
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NATWEST
GROUP plc (Registrant)
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By: /s/
Jan Cargill
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Name:
Jan Cargill
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Title:
Chief Governance Officer and Company Secretary
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