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UK SMEs Report Slower Business Activity But New Work and Employment Numbers Increased

Activity at small and medium-sized businesses fell “marginally” in September, while new work and employment numbers continued to grow, the NatWest SME Growth Tracker has revealed. The NatWest UK SME Business Activity Index – which aims to effectively measure MoM changes in the output of… Read More

Northern Ireland Reportedly Leads UK Private Sector Growth as Autumn Budget “Dominates” Outlook

Business activity rose in all but one of the UK’s 12 nations and regions last month, following broad-based growth in the month prior, according to the latest NatWest Regional Growth Tracker. As noted in a blog post by NatWest, the Business Activity Index is said… Read More

NatWest Group Announces £2.8B of Lending to UK Social Housing Sector in 2024

NatWest Group has announced a progress update on its ambition to provide £5 billion in new lending to the UK social housing sector, with the bank confirming £2.8 billion has been provided up to 31 August 2024. As explained in the update from UK’s NatWest… Read More

UK’s NatWest Teams Up with Meta to Combat Scams, Fraudulent Activities

Meta (NASDAQ:META) and NatWest are expanding an information sharing partnership to help protect people against fraud. The Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange (FIRE) is described in an update as a threat intelligence sharing program for financial institutions, enabling banking service providers to share intelligence with Meta… Read More

UK Consumers Admit to Overspending with Fear of Missing Out Being Key Driver – Research

As summer comes to a close and the nights draw in, new research from NatWest Premier reveals that half (50%) of Brits admit “to overspending, with fear-of-missing-out being the primary driver for 25%.” Furthermore, around one in five agree “that the pressure to keep up… Read More

UK’s NatWest Funds Deal with North East’s believe housing

NatWest reports that it has completed a multimillion-pound funding deal with North East’s believe housing. NatWest notes that the £90 million funding package will aim to “support long-term growth plans for social housing association.” As stated in the announcement, believe housing has obtained a £90… Read More

Younger UK Consumers are Building Positive Savings Habits, Seeking Ways to Create Secure Financial Future – Report

Despite the financial pressures facing young people, NatWest’s latest Savings Index reveals younger generations are building positive savings habits, breaking traditional taboos around talking about money, and “seeking innovative ways through social media to create a more secure financial future.” Almost nine in ten (86%)… Read More

UK Business Activity Increased for First Time in Three Months – Report

August saw business activity rise universally across the UK for the first time in three months, the latest NatWest Regional Growth Tracker showed. The Business Activity Index is the first fact-based indicator of regional economic health released each month, “tracking the monthly change in the… Read More

UK’s NatWest and Beauhurst’s New Startup Index Reports 468,000 New Firms Started Up in H1 2024

NatWest and Beauhurst’s New Startup Index reports 468,000 new companies started up in the first half of 2024 – a 6% increase compared to the same period last year. In a sign of the strong potential of the UK economy, 468,000 new firms “have started… Read More

UK’s NatWest Executes £1.1B Own-Asset Securitization Deal as Part of Renewable and Transition Energy Lending Growth Strategy

NatWest has executed a £1.1bn own-asset securitisation deal with funding from Nuveen Infrastructure and Christofferson Robb & Company to allow the bank to recycle capital and increase lending to the renewable energy and energy transition sectors. The synthetic risk transfer securitization “provides credit protection against… Read More

NatWest and UK Infrastructure Bank Look to Improve Rural Broadband Connectivity Across Northern England

NatWest has announced a £100 million term loan guaranteed by UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB), and a £25 million term loan to support Quickline Communication’s large-scale broadband expansion in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. This is alongside a £125 million term loan from UKIB. The financing from NatWest… Read More

NatWest Group Appoints Paul Edwards to Lead Asset Finance Unit with Specialist Businesses Offering Working Capital Solutions

NatWest Group has announced that Paul Edwards has been appointed to lead the banking group’s asset finance business, Lombard, together “with specialist businesses providing working capital solutions.” Paul has been at NatWest for 12 years and “has held a number of roles in that time,… Read More

UK’s NatWest Group Issues Bond Dedicated to Financing Electric Vehicles

NatWest Group has issued its first Electric Vehicle Green bond (the “EV Green Bond”) raising net proceeds of €750 million from institutional investors based in the UK, Europe & Asia. The issuance makes NatWest Group the first UK bank “to issue a green bond where… Read More

UK’s NatWest Group Acquires Metro Bank Mortgage Portfolio

NatWest Group plc announces that it1 has entered into an agreement with Metro Bank plc to acquire a £2.5 billion portfolio of prime UK residential mortgages, with a weighted average current loan to value of c.62%. On completion of the transaction2 NatWest Group “expects to welcome… Read More

The UK Is a Significantly More Entrepreneurial Society than it Was at Start of Millennium – Report

The UK is a significantly more entrepreneurial society than it was at the start of the millennium, the world’s largest survey of entrepreneurship has found. This, according to an update from NatWest. For the first time since the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor records began “a quarter… Read More

Majority of Gen Z in the UK Are Participating in Social Media Challenge to Boost Savings According – Report

Social media may be inspiring a new generation of savvy savers and fiscally responsible young adults, with 74% of Gen Z participating in social media-driven challenges to boost their overall savings, as revealed in the latest NatWest Savings Index. In comparison to other age groups,… Read More

UK Business Activity Grew Across Major Regions in June – Report

Business activity grew in nine UK nations and regions in June, after having risen in all 12 in the previous month, the latest NatWest Regional Growth Tracker showed. The NatWest Regional Growth Tracker Business Activity Index is said to be “the first fact-based indicator of… Read More

NatWest Reportedly Becomes First UK Banking Institution to Use Bank-Verified Digital Identity for Global Transactions

NatWest is supporting bank-verified digital identity by integrating OneID in Adobe® Acrobat Sign. NatWest claims that it has “become the first UK bank to use bank-verified digital identity to enable people from different countries to prove their identity in the fastest and easiest way.” The… Read More

UK Markets Survey: Broad-based Increase in Business Activity Reported Across Major Regions

Latest Regional PMI survey data from NatWest showed a broad-based increase in business activity across the UK in May, with growth being recorded simultaneously in “all 12 nations and regions monitored for the first time in more than a year.” At the same, there was… Read More

UK’s NatWest Launches Cora+, the Generative AI Update to Bank’s Digital Services

NatWest is announcing the launch of Cora+, an upgrade to its digital assistant, Cora, developed in collaboration with IBM. NatWest is to introduce the new version of Cora during London Tech Week and will “be one the first banks in the UK to deploy generative… Read More

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