NatWest Group has returned to full private ownership, with HM Treasury no longer holding any shares in the bank. Following two separate re-capitalistations in 2008 and 2009, the state's economic ownership of the group totalled 84.4%, a shareholding that has reduced during the intervening years through a number of accelerated book builds, directed buy-backs and a government-led trading plan. NatWest chair Rick Haythornthwaite, said: "As NatWest Group returns to full private ownership for the first time since 2008, we remain deeply grateful to the government - and to UK taxpayers - for their intervention and support. "At a time of global crisis, this intervention stabilised our banking system and, by extension, our economy; protecting millions of savers, homeowners and businesses. "Banks in the UK have changed beyond recognition since 2008, so too the regulatory environment and culture across the City," he continued. "We are at an inflexion point not just for our bank, but for the wider economy.