NatWest to pay UK government £190m as Farage crisis rocks bank

Crisis-hit group plans to pay dividends worth 500m to investors after quarterly profits rise by 27%

NatWest will make a fresh 190m payout to its largest shareholder, the UK government, after Downing Street had an influence in the resignation of Alison Rose as the bank's chief executive amid a row over Nigel Farage's accounts.

The crisis-hit group said it was planning to pay dividends worth 500m to its investors after another strong quarter in which pre-tax profits rose by a higher than expected 27% to 1.8bn in the three months to June. That was compared with 1.4bn a year earlier, as the bank benefited from rising interest rates that allowed it to charge borrowers more for loans and mortgages.