🔴The British government announced on Friday the sale of its final stake in the NatWest banking group, thus ending nearly 17 years of public ownership that began after the global financial crisis in 2008, when the group, then known as the Royal Bank of Scotland, was on the brink of collapse.
📌The Treasury Department stated in an official statement that "the recent sale ends nearly 17 years of public ownership," and explained that injecting £45.5 billion (equivalent to about $61 billion at current exchange rates) of taxpayers' money into the bailout between 2008 and 2009 was aimed at protecting the national economy from collapse.
📌The statement confirmed: "This intervention prevented the collapse of the economy and the financial system in the United Kingdom, and contributed to protecting millions of savers, businesses, and jobs."
📌For her part, Finance Minister Rachel Reeves said: "That decision was the right one at the time to protect the economy, and the return of NatWest to private ownership closes an important chapter in the history of this country."
