The UK government’s stake in NatWest has fallen below 50% after the bank agreed to buy back another chunk of shares.
The shares, worth £1.2bn, were bought at a price of 220.5p, with the settlement day to be this coming Wednesday.
The shares bought represented 4.91% of NatWest and will be cancelled, said the bank.
NatWest has been in government ownership since the financial crash of 2008/09, when as the Royal Bank of Scotland it needed successive bail-outs worth £46bn in total to avoid failure.
Following the deal, HM Treasury will hold approximately 48.06% of voting rights in the bank.
NatWest added the purchase will reduce its main measure of financial strength, its CET1 ratio, by 0.69% from 15.9% at its last calculation while tangible equity per share will increase to 275p.
The bank added the purchase has also triggered a £427mln payment to its main pension scheme.