"NatWest’s scale and financial services expertise will ensure our existing financial services customers continue to be well looked after."
- Simon Roberts, Sainsbury’s CEO
After announcing a phased withdrawal from its core banking business, Sainsbury’s has sold its banking arm, comprising personal loans, credit cards and retail deposit portfolios, to NatWest.
The transaction is expected to complete in the first half of 2025 and does not include Sainsbury’s Bank’s commission income businesses, including insurance, ATMs and travel money, or Argos Financial Services.
NatWest will gain around one million customer accounts as part of the deal, taking on £1.4bn of unsecured personal loans and £1.1bn of credit card balances, as well as £2.6bn of customer deposits.
Sainsbury's Bank will pay £125m to NatWest and will return £250m in excess capital to Sainsbury's once the acquisition has completed.
Last year, The Co-operative Bank acquired Sainsbury's Bank's mortgage portfolio, comprised of approximately 3,500 customers with balances of around £479 million.
Simon Roberts, Sainsbury’s CEO, said: “I am pleased to be announcing this news today. NatWest’s values and customer focus are a close fit with ours and as one of the UK’s leading banks, NatWest’s scale and financial services expertise will ensure our existing financial services customers continue to be well looked after. There will be no immediate change for our bank customers as a result of this announcement. Today’s news means we will focus all our time and resources going forward on growing our core retail business, delivering great quality and value, week in week out.”
Paul Thwaite, NatWest Group's CEO, commented: “Following today’s announcement, we look forward to welcoming new customers to NatWest Group, where they will benefit from our expertise and award-winning digital banking offering. This transaction is a great opportunity to accelerate the growth of our retail banking business at attractive returns, in line with our strategic priorities. As well as a complementary customer base, the transaction is expected to add scale to our credit card and unsecured personal lending business within existing risk appetite. NatWest Group has a strong track record of successful integration, and we are focussed on ensuring a smooth transition for customers.”
