NatWest Group reportedly pulls back from US and European government bond markets

NatWest Group is pulling back from the US and European government bond markets, Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter. The bank has not publicly confirmed the move. As of October 8, 2026, no confirmation has appeared in NatWest’s regulatory filings or earnings releases. No NatWest executive has gone on record describing a strategic exit from either market. That matters because the bank’s recent numbers point to a firm still deeply tied to government paper. As of June 30, 2026, NatWest Markets, its corporate and institutional banking arm, held primary liquidity securities totaling around £79.5 billion. Most of that pile sat in government and SSA bonds. SSA stands for sovereign, supranational and agency debt. Think Treasuries, Bunds, and bonds from institutions like development banks. Owning bonds for liquidity purposes is not the same as making markets in them. A bank can keep a giant cushion of government debt on its balance sheet while still shrinking the business of trading those bonds for clients. So the reported pullback and the liquidity data are not necessarily in conflict. NatWest has spent most of the past two decades as a ward of the British state....