Proactive Investors - NatWest Group PLC (LON:NWG) is searching for a new chair, after chairman Howard Davies confirmed he'll step down by July 2024.
The UK bank’s chair has served for eight years on the board and will be looking to hand over his role when he reaches his ninth – the maximum recommended length by the UK corporate governance code.
“The search for my successor will be led jointly by the senior independent directors of NatWest Group and NatWest Holdings,” Davies said in a statement at the bank’s annual general meeting.
Davies helped guide NatWest to a route of profitability after the bank was bailed out by the government in 2008 amid the financial crisis under its former Royal Bank of Scotland name.
One of Davies’ key goals was to reduce the government's share in the bank, taking it back to full privatisation.
NatWest currently has an opportunity to repurchase £1.2bln of government-owned shares and has outlined plans to pursue buybacks until August 2025.
The government now owns 42% of the bank, down from 52% at the start of 2022, and is half of the peak 82% stake which was reached in 2009.
Davies added in his statement that the recent banking collapses were caused because of “poor risk management and long-standing, idiosyncratic challenges”.
“The NatWest Group, by contrast, has built a robust and resilient balance sheet with strong capital and liquidity, a largely secured retail loan book and well-diversified commercial lending,” Davies added.
NatWest’s shares are up 14% in the last twelve months, opening on Tuesday at 273.60p.