NatWest, trading north of the border as Royal Bank of Scotland, has raised its guidance following a strong first half performance.
Operating profit before tax came in at £4.3 billion, from £3.6bn last time, while attributable profit rose to £3bn against £2.5bn for the first half of 2025. Income increased to £8.7bn from £8bn. The board has declared a 26.3% rise in its interim dividend to 12p from 9.5p.
The bank said it expects to announce its next buyback with full year results in February, six months earlier than previously planned.
It said that the strength of its first-half performance and completion of its acquisition of wealth manager Evelyn Partners gives it confidence to strengthen its 2026 guidance. For 2026, it is forecasting income of of around £17.9bn from a range of £17.2bn to £17.6bn.
Chief executive, Paul Thwaite, said: “NatWest Group’s strong performance in first half of the year shows that our strategy is consistently delivering for customers and shareholders.
“We are growing all three of our customer businesses, becoming even more efficient and delivering market leading returns, with a Return on Tangible Equity of 19.7%.
“Our performance is grounded in the support we provide to more than 20 million customers throughout the UK, helping them to plan, save and invest, to get on the housing ladder and to scale and grow their businesses. As a result, deposits, lending and assets under management all continued to grow over the past six months.
“We are confident in the scale and capabilities we’re building and the opportunities ahead. Through our long-standing relationships, deep regional presence, and responsible adoption of AI, we are well placed to accelerate our progress by doing even more to meet our customers’ needs, as well as helping to generate growth in every nation and region of the UK.
“The consistency of our performance, coupled with the completion of our Evelyn Partners acquisition, has given us the confidence to strengthen our guidance for 2026, whilst our continued capital generation means we have today announced an interim dividend of 12.0p per share and that we will consider share-buybacks from full year 2026, six months earlier than previously planned.”
Nick Sherrard, managing director of Label Sessions, said: “NatWest’s half year finds the bank midway through a lot of projects – a fact perhaps reflected in the positive, but cautious, tone to today’s update.
“Part of that is undoubtedly the more uncertain economic environment, but it may also be because the Evelyn Partners acquisition completed the day before the period closed, and the bank’s data and AI programme is part-built.
“NatWest has named simplification as one of its strategic priorities, and these two bets will test whether that is a genuine operating principle or a line in a strategy paper.
“NatWest has long had a great underlying business, even if the bank’s growth trajectory is less clear than some of its competitors in the UK market. In the medium term, the big challenge for NatWest is to prove it can innovate and grow without becoming slower and more complex.
“Right now, it’s too early to tell if NatWest can execute on that, but it remains a world away from the days of state-ownership.”
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at investing and trading platform IG, said: “Hot on the heels of Lloyds, NatWest becomes the latest bank to issue an update statement, and once more the push into wealth management is a key plank of its growth strategy.
“More and more this looks like a fully-rejuvenated banking sector, with further room for share price growth even after the big gains of the last two years.”
AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said: “Life as a fully privatised entity continues to suit NatWest as it beats consensus forecasts for the fifth time since the government sold its remaining stake last May.
“The company’s ability to consistently outmatch expectations has undoubtedly been helped by an environment in which interest rates have stayed higher for longer, but the business has also benefited from its own strategic initiatives.
“These include a big push into wealth management, intended to reduce its reliance on fluctuating interest rates. A move which has been bolstered by the acquisition of Evelyn Partners.
“Alongside a meaningful restructuring, NatWest is deploying AI to bring down costs and this has enabled an eye-catching increase to full-year guidance.
“The decision to pull forward a planned buyback to next February is a signal of management’s confidence, bolstered by the fact bad debts remain under control despite a tricky economic backdrop.”
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