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(Alliance News) - The chair of NatWest Group PLC has said the banking sector is "evolving rapidly" as he acknowledged that the lender faced "unexpected challenges" during 2023.
Rick Haythornthwaite, who stepped into the role earlier this month, addressed the bank's shareholders at its annual general meeting on Tuesday.
He said: "Clearly 2023 was an exceptional year, that brought challenges for our customers, our sector, and the economy, as families and businesses faced into the fastest rate rise cycle since the 1970s with persistently high levels of inflation.
"The year brought unexpected challenges for the bank but our foundations and performance are strong – in fact profits for 2023 were at the highest level they have been since before the 2008 financial crisis."
The lender reported a yearly operating pretax profit of GBP6.2 billion, the highest since just before it was bailed out by the UK government.
It came in a turbulent year for the banking group's leadership in the wake of the debanking saga involving former Ukip leader Nigel Farage.
The issue culminated in the dramatic exit of NatWest chief executive Alison Rose followed by the boss of its subsidiary Coutts, Peter Flavel.
Rose was replaced by Paul Thwaite, who previously headed the bank's commercial business, and who said he feels a "great sense of responsibility" in having the top job.
Thwaite, speaking at the AGM in Edinburgh, stressed that NatWest was "prioritising bank-wide simplification to become more efficient and effective".
This will involve using automation and artificial intelligence technology to speed up processes.
"A bank-wide exercise in 2023 identified over 100 priority use cases for AI to address manual operations processes and wider controls," he revealed.
"Ultimately, we want to build a NatWest Group that is simpler and more productive to better serve our customers."
By Anna Wise, PA Business Reporter
source: PA
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