NatWest reports 1,400 job cuts and £420m in savings

NatWest said it had eliminated about 1,400 jobs so far this year as it reported higher quarterly profit and £420 million in cost savings, alongside growth in income from lending. The bank reported operating pretax profit of £2.2 billion for the three months to September, about 2% above the same period a year earlier. Net interest income, the difference between interest earned on loans and paid on deposits, rose nearly 9% to about £3.6 billion. NatWest said around 1,000 full-time positions were removed during the quarter, bringing its reported job reductions for the year to about 1,400. It also reported approximately £420 million in cost savings and a year-to-date cost-to-income ratio of 45.7%, a measure of operating costs relative to income. The figures were reported as the bank continues to reshape its workforce and invest in technology. NatWest has trialled an AI-powered spending insights assistant and a fraud detection agent for credit card customers. The bank has described technology as part of its efforts to change how it operates, but the reported figures do not specify how much of the savings came from job reductions, technology investment or other measures. The bank’s...