NatWest's CEO sets out plans to drive more automation across bank
The new boss of NatWest has laid out his plans to drive more automation across the bank after shrinking its senior management team.
Paul Thwaite, who became NatWest’s permanent chief executive in February, said there was a “lot to do” to simplify the business.
His remarks come after shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said Labour had no plans to “deviate” from the Conservative Government’s plan to offload its remaining stake in NatWest.
Mr Thwaite, speaking at a Goldman Sachs European Financials Conference, said: “I was encouraged, and we’ve been engaging with the current opposition quite extensively, that the shadow chancellor earlier this week visited our premises and said she had no plans to deviate from the current plan, which is to sell the whole shareholding down by 2025 to 2026.”
“Given the progress we’ve made … I’m pretty pleased with the trajectory and we’ll hit that plan, irrespective of whether a retail offer happens or not.”
The Government’s intention to launch a sale of NatWest shares to the general public this summer was put on ice after the General Election was called for July 4.
It means the retail share offer cannot take place in the run-up to the national election.
Mr Thwaite said he wanted to digitise and automate more of the bank’s engagement with customers, which could include reducing the reliance on call centres.
NatWest uses artificial intelligence (AI) for features such as its chatbot, named Cora, which handled almost 11 million customer queries last year.
It has also piloted generative AI to help with fraud detection, so reducing losses from scams, and shortening the length of time that complaints are dealt with.
The chief executive also spoke about plans to simplify how the business is run, and reduce costs to offset some of the pressures of inflation such as rising staff wages.
The bank trimmed the size of its executive committee in March, from about 15 to 10 members.
Mr Thwaite said simplifying its leadership team would have a “cascading effect” through the bank, speeding up decision making and removing crossover in terms of responsibilities.
“While we’ve made an awful lot of positive progress, I’m still confident there is a fair bit to go on the productivity and efficiency front,” he said.
Last week it was revealed that the Government had sold £1.24bn of shares in NatWest, accelerating the process of bringing the high street bank into private ownership.
A notice confirmed that the Government’s shareholding in the bank has fallen by about 3.5 percentage points to 22.5 per cent.
NatWest received several multibillion-pound bailouts during the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009, leaving the Government with an 84 per cent stake in what was then known as Royal Bank of Scotland.
The process has accelerated of late, and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt reaffirmed the Government’s plan to sell all of its interest in the bank by 2025 or 2026 in the Spring Budget.
But the Treasury has been selling down its stake in the lender, which also owns Coutts.