NatWest CEO Alison Rose today praised Britain’s “entrepreneurial spirit” as she braced businesses and consumers for yet more “tough times ahead”.
The bank, formerly Royal Bank of Scotland, made a profit of £355 million in the third quarter, far better than City expectations.
That result is in line with the other big UK banks, all of which enjoyed a strong quarter as businesses and consumers bounced back from lockdown.
She said: “The level of entrepreneurial spirit in how businesses are pivoting and reacting is incredible. But the outlook remains very uncertain. I would caution that there remain really tough times ahead.”
She noted that the end of government support schemes and new Covid-19 restrictions mean the challenging times are far from over. “I would not want to get ahead of ourselves”, she said.
Mortgage applications soared 91% in the quarter and video banking is on the rise.
At the start of the year NatWest typically did 100 video banking calls a week. Now it does 9000 a week.
Bad debts for the year will be at the lower end of the £3.5 billion to £4.5 billion range.
The government still has a 60% stake in NatWest from when it bailed out RBS in 2008.
Without Covid, it is likely it would have sold off that stake by now.
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