NatWest's shares jump 5% after the UK bank's profits soar

The rise comes after Rachel Reeves abandoned plans to sell the government’s remaining stake in NatWest to the public

People outside NatWest Bank in the City of London
(Image credit: Photo by Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images)

Shares in NatWest rose by as much as 5% on Friday before falling back slightly after the UK bank’s operating profits were £200 million higher than expected during the third quarter.

The banking group said it made an operating pre-tax profit of £1.7 billion between July and September, nearly a third higher than the £1.3 billion generated this time last year. Analysts were forecasting profits of £1.5 billion.

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Chris Newlands

Chris is a freelance journalist, and was previously an editor and correspondent at the Financial Times as well as the business and money editor at The i Newspaper. He is also the author of the Virgin Money Maker, the personal finance guide published by Virgin Books, and has written for the BBC, The Wall Street Journal, The Independent, South China Morning Post, TimeOut, Barron's and The Guardian. He is a graduate in Economics.