$NWG

NatWest stock rose 3.1% to 674.2p after Barclays upgraded its rating to Overweight with a GBP 8.50 price target, citing a 25% discount to peers and strong earnings trajectory. The bank's EPS is expected to benefit from higher interest rates. NatWest's own guidance and share buybacks also support the stock. The broader UK financial sector rallied, with the FTSE 100 advancing.

NatWest Group (NWG) is reducing trading in US and European sovereign bonds. The company also issued £1bn floating-rate covered bonds, listed on the London Stock Exchange.

NatWest will take over 1 million Sainsbury's bank accounts in 2024, adding them to its customer base. The companies have launched personal loans and savings accounts with better rates for Nectar members, powered by NatWest Boxed. A NatWest Nectar credit card will be introduced later this year.

NatWest is closing its US and European government bond desks, affecting up to 10 jobs. The bank is focusing on UK primary dealership and other areas with strong customer demand. The move comes amid challenging macro trading conditions and rising costs due to electronification, which may impact other banks like HSBC, Santander, and UBS.

The UK government appointed six banks (Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Morgan Stanley, NatWest, RBC) to lead the issuance of its first digitally native bond, DIGIT, expected by Q1 2027. The pilot will test distributed ledger technology for sovereign debt issuance and settlement. Economic Secretary Lucy Rigby announced the appointments during UK Digital Assets Week.

UK Chancellor John Healey will meet with CEOs of major banks, including Lloyds, Barclays, HSBC, and NatWest, ahead of the autumn Budget. Industry groups urge against tax hikes, citing potential damage to investment and the UK's financial hub status. Taxes paid by banks rose 8.5% to £39.1 billion in 2025-26, with surcharge receipts up 20%.

UK bank stocks fell sharply, with NatWest, HSBC, Barclays, and Lloyds down 4-5.2%, as 30-year gilt yields hit 1998 highs. The FTSE 350 banks index dropped 4.1%, its largest one-day fall since May. Reports of a meeting between bank leaders and the finance minister ahead of the budget added to jitters.

NatWest Group is trialing an AI-powered Spending Insights tool that allows customers to interact via voice and text. The bank also introduced a Fraud Triage Agent to assist with suspicious transactions. According to the company, 57% of NatWest customers report increased AI usage in the past six months.

UBS named Barclays its top large UK bank pick due to a surge in corporate lending, which grew 9.6% annually. Total UK lending rose 4.9% year-over-year. UBS noted stronger-than-expected lending and rising loan yields, but competition for deposits is intense. UK banks trade at a valuation discount, with UBS favoring Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest, Shawbrook, Close Brothers, and Paragon.

Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, and four other UK banks completed live customer transactions using tokenized sterling deposits, showing banks can make conventional money programmable without issuing stablecoins. The transactions were done through the Great British Tokenised Deposit initiative, with funds being locked and released automatically. This raises questions about the necessity of stablecoins. Tokenized deposits differ legally from stablecoins, as they represent money owed by a commercial bank.