NatWest Group has become the latest British bank to beat profit expectations, despite seeing a jump in customers withdrawing money at the start of the year.
The group reported an operating profit before tax of £1.8bn in the first three months of the year.
It comes in well ahead of analysts’ expectations at £1.6bn for the quarter and more than 50% higher than the £1.2bn recorded this time last year.
It follows rival bank Barclays posting a better-than-expected quarterly profit and its largest in at least 12 years.
The group, which includes Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank, also saw its total income surge by more than a third over the period, helped by higher interest rates which makes it more expensive to borrow.
However, the bank said its customers withdrew nearly £20bn from accounts during the period, which it partly blamed on its exit from the Republic of Ireland this year, having decided to shut its entire Ulster Bank branch network in the region.
Excluding that, £11bn flowed out of the bank, or 2.6% of its total deposits, which NatWest said was a result of higher tax payments at the start of the year, fiercer competition for better savings rates and market volatility.
It also revealed it saw a growing number of people using its fixed-term savings products in the first quarter as people looked to make the most of higher interest rates.
Group chief executive Alison Rose said that despite cost-of-living pressures, the lender has not seen a rise in customers falling into arrears on their loans.
“Through a period of significant disruption and uncertainty, we continue to stand alongside the people, families and businesses we serve, providing targeted support and growing our lending responsibly.
“Our disciplined and consistent approach to risk management means that arrears and impairments remain low.
“By monitoring customer behaviour and looking closely for signs of financial distress, we are able to put in place proactive measures to help those who are struggling right now and those who are worried about the future.”
Rose stressed the greater outflow of deposits was largely due to “seasonality” with higher tax payments due at the start of the year, adding: “We have seen customers behaving really rationally around their financial affairs.
“We have seen some pay down of expensive debt, and some people looking to pre-pay mortgages… and then there is a little bit more competition for deposits, which we’re very comfortable with.”
She also said the volatility in the banking industry earlier this month, sparked by the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse, “doesn’t really resonate” with people in the UK, so the bank was cushioned from any adverse reaction from customers.
Earlier this week, NatWest’s chairman Howard Davies blamed the banks’ demise on “poor risk management and long-standing, idiosyncratic challenges” rather than any wider banking sector weaknesses.
Nevertheless, investors did not appear reassured by the comments and NatWest’s share price dropped by nearly 6% on Friday morning.
Zoe Gillespie, investment manager at RBC Brewin Dolphin, commented: “Compared to just a few years ago, NatWest’s updates have become reassuringly dull.
“The bank continues to make progress, with another set of solid results which have beaten expectations.
“Profits are up, bad debt levels remain stable, and its net interest margin has risen again, buoyed by a higher base interest rate environment.”
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