Edinburgh-headquartered NatWest Group, the bank formerly known as RBS, said on Friday its first-half operating profit before tax rose 20% to £4.3 billion.

First-half total income rose 11% to £8.862 billion. The bank also raised its performance guidance for the year.

The company said it will pay an interim dividend of 12p per share and will consider share-buybacks “from full year 2026” — six months earlier than previously planned.

In its outlook, NatWest Group said it expects full-year total income excluding notable items will be around £17.9 billion, including around £275 million relating to its recent acquisition of wealth manager Evelyn Partners.

Customer deposits excluding central items increased £5.9 billion in H1 2026 and £2.8 billion during Q2 2026 to £447.6 billion.

NatWest Group CEO Paul Thwaite said: “NatWest Group’s strong performance in the first half of the year shows that our strategy is consistently delivering for customers and shareholders.

“We are growing all three of our customer businesses, becoming even more efficient and delivering market leading returns, with a Return on Tangible Equity of 19.7%.

“Our performance is grounded in the support we provide to more than 20 million customers throughout the UK, helping them to plan, save and invest, to get on the housing ladder and to scale and grow their businesses.

“As a result, deposits, lending and assets under management all continued to grow over the past six months.

“We are confident in the scale and capabilities we’re building and the opportunities ahead.

“Through our long-standing relationships, deep regional presence, and responsible adoption of AI, we are well placed to accelerate our progress by doing even more to meet our customers’ needs, as well as helping to generate growth in every nation and region of the UK.

“The consistency of our performance, coupled with the completion of our Evelyn Partners acquisition, has given us the confidence to strengthen our guidance for 2026, whilst our continued capital generation means we have today announced an interim dividend of 12.0p per share and that we will consider share-buybacks from full year 2026, six months earlier than previously planned.”