Natwest Group seeks to unload Cushon, the supplier of work pensions which he acquired only two years ago, while his CEO refocuses one of the largest British street banks on his main strategic priorities.
Sky News learned that Natwest is working with advisers on a sale of Cushon, for which he paid 144 million pounds Sterling in exchange for controlling participation.
City sources have said that the bank was in detail with a number of potential business buyers.
Cushon offers retirement products in the workplace as well as a range of ISA in the workplace, including the Isas Juniors, the ISA for life and general investment accounts.
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The acquisition of the company by Natwest aimed to diversify its non -interest income by offering Cushon products to the commercial and commercial customers of the bank.
Cushon serves around 650,000 members in around 21,000 employers.
Its Master Trust offer has nearly 3 billion pounds sterling assets under management and administration, with 17.4 million pounds of income generated by this area last year – 97% of Cushon’s total income.
Natwest has an 85% stake in Cushon, the rest held by the management of the subsidiary.
A market source said that Cushon had aroused the interest of a significant number of strategic players on the pension market in the midst of a growing consolidation thrust.
This year, the government has announced major pensions reforms to lead to a larger scale and a reduction in unnecessary bureaucratic expenditure, for defined contribution systems managing at least 25 billion pounds sterling by 2030.
An elimination of Cushon would reflect the strategic priorities of Paul Thwaite, director general of Natwest, which includes a program of simplification on the scale of the bank and a more active assessment and risk management.
Under M. Thwaite, Natwest considered a small number of acquisitions on a larger scale, including that of Santander UK.
This agreement did not progress due to the determination of Natwest to pay a price which would be deemed attractive by its shareholders.
Natwest returned to full private ownership earlier this year when the government sold the last of the actions it acquired as part of the rescue of 45.5 billion pounds in 2008 of what was the Royal Bank of Scotland.
A spokesperson for the Natwest group said: “We are not starting speculation.
“Our goal remains on the delivery of our customers.”