National Westminster Bank, commonly known as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, it became part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, which was re-named NatWest Group in 2020. Following ringfencing of the group's core domestic business, the bank became a direct subsidiary of NatWest Holdings; NatWest Markets comprises the non-ringfenced investment banking arm. NatWest International is a trading name of RBS International, which also sits outside the ringfence. Between 2008 and 2025, the UK government held a stake in NatWest Group following its £45 billion bailout of the lender which led to it owning 84 per cent at one point. The bank returned to full private ownership on 30 May 2025 after 17 years. NatWest is considered one of the Big Four clearing banks in the UK, and it has a large network of over 526 branches and 3,400 cash machines across Great Britain and offers 24-hour Actionline telephone and online banking services. Today, it has more than 7.5 million personal customers and 850,000 small business accounts. Wikipedia