NatWest said its mortgage balances rose by £1.9bn to £209.8bn in 2024, including £2.2bn from the Metro Bank portfolio.
NatWest acquired Metro Bank’s prime residential mortgage book in September, taking on approximately 10,000 additional customers.
In 2024, the lender helped more than 351,000 mortgage customers to buy or refinance their home, including over 35,000 first-time buyers.
NatWest said across its owner-occupied mortgage book, accounting for £189bn, the average loan-to-value (LTV) tier was 51%. Some 0.63% of its accounts were in arrears of fewer than three months – below the industry average of 0.93%.
Some 91% of its borrowers were on a fixed rate and 64% were on an interest rate higher than 3%.
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NatWest posts rise in profit
NatWest’s operating profit before tax rose slightly from £6.17bn to £6.19bn annually, while in Q4 alone, this figure came to £1.49bn, down from £1.67bn previously.
Its net interest margin was one basis point higher than the year before, at 2.13%.
Paul Thwaite, chief executive of NatWest, said: “Throughout the year, we made good progress against our strategic priorities by growing all three of our customer businesses, improving productivity and actively managing our capital. This performance is grounded in the support and services we provide to over 19 million customers, whether buying or refinancing their homes, helping them to invest or growing their businesses.
“Alongside this, we were also pleased to see an accelerated reduction in the government’s shareholding. I am proud of all that our colleagues achieved in 2024, but our focus is firmly on the future. We have positive momentum behind us and a clear ambition to succeed with customers as we continue to build a simpler, more integrated and technology-driven bank that is capable of even greater impact.”
He added: “As we enter a new, forward-looking chapter for NatWest Group, I am optimistic about the opportunities ahead of us to grow our business as a vital and trusted partner to our customers and the UK itself and, in doing so, create further value for our shareholders.”
