Alison Rose, Chief Executive Officer, commented:
“NatWest Group’s profit in the first quarter of 2021 is a result of a good operating performance in our core franchises as well as modest impairment releases that reflect the better than expected performance of our loan book across the first three months of the year.
We continue to make progress against our strategic targets; growing in key areas, simplifying the bank and accelerating our digital transformation to meet the rapidly evolving needs of our customers. We are also pleased that we were able to use some of our excess capital to buy back shares from the UK Government.
Defaults remain low as a result of the UK Government support schemes and there are reasons for optimism with the vaccine programmes progressing at pace and restrictions being eased. However, there is continuing uncertainty for our economy and for many of our customers as a result of COVID-19. Our capital strength and well-diversified balance sheet means NatWest Group is well positioned to help people, families and businesses to rebuild and thrive.
We are building a relationship bank for a digital world. A bank that champions potential and plays a positive role in society in order to build long-term value and drive sustainable returns for our shareholders.”
Good financial performance in a challenging environment with better than expected performance of the loan portfolio
- Q1 2021 operating profit before tax of £946 million and an attributable profit of £620 million.
- Income across the UK and RBSI retail and commercial businesses, excluding notable items, decreased by £203 million, or 8.0%, compared with Q1 2020 reflecting the lower yield curve, subdued transactional business activity and lower consumer spending, partially offset by balance sheet growth.
- Bank net interest margin (NIM) of 1.64% was 2 basis points lower than Q4 2020 principally reflecting lower structural hedge income, 3 basis points, partly offset by mortgage margin improvement, 1 basis point.
- Other expenses, excluding operating lease depreciation (OLD) and Ulster Bank RoI direct costs, were £72 million, or 4.5%, lower than Q1 2020.
- A net impairment release of £102 million in Q1 2021 reflects releases in non-default portfolios, principally in Commercial Banking.
Robust balance sheet with strong capital and liquidity levels
- CET1 ratio of 18.2% was 30 basis points lower than Q4 2020, reflecting the directed buy back, associated pension contribution, and foreseeable dividend accrual partially offset by the reduction in RWAs and the attributable profit for the period.
- The liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) of 158%, representing £64.9 billion above 100%, decreased by 7 percentage points compared with Q4 2020, following a repayment of the Term Funding Scheme with additional incentives for SMEs (TFSME).
- Net lending decreased by £1.8 billion to £358.7 billion in comparison to Q4 2020. Across the UK and RBSI retail and commercial businesses, net lending excluding UK Government support schemes, increased by £2.2 billion, or 3.0% on an annualised basis, including £3.4 billion related to mortgages. Retail Banking gross new mortgage lending was £9.6 billion in the quarter.
- Customer deposits increased by £21.6 billion compared with Q4 2020 to £453.3 billon. Across the UK and RBSI retail and commercial businesses customer deposits increased by £12.1 billion, or 3.0%, as customers sought to retain liquidity and reduced spending. Treasury repo activity drove a further £10.9 billion increase in the quarter.
- RWAs decreased by £5.6 billion compared with Q4 2020 mainly reflecting reductions in Retail Banking and Commercial Banking.
For a full picture of the numbers you can go to our Results Centre.
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