The Government last night sold its final stake in NatWest 17 years after rescuing the bank in a £45.5billion bailout.

The lender, then known as RBS, teetered on the brink of collapse until Gordon Brown's Labour government stepped in to save it in 2008.

Last night's sale of a £200m chunk of the lender by the Treasury marked the end of troubling chapter which started during the financial crisis.

The RBS rescue was the biggest in a series of interventions by the Government which also saw it take a large stake in Lloyds Banking Group – with the last chunk of that lender sold in 2017.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves last night said the 2008 bailout 'protected the economy' as it stopped the bank's collapse during the financial crisis.

'That was the right decision,' Reeves said. 'NatWest's return to private ownership turns the page on a significant chapter in this country's history.'

NatWest chairman Rick Haythornthwaite said: 'We remain deeply grateful to the Government – and to UK taxpayers – for their intervention and support. This intervention stabilised our banking system and, by extension, our economy – protecting millions of savers, homeowners and businesses.'

The bailout followed a period of expansion by then boss Fred 'The Shred' Goodwin (pictured right), including the ill-advised purchase of Dutch lender ABN Amro in 2007, briefly making RBS the biggest bank in the world.

The decision by then-Chancellor Alistair Darling to take control of RBS was later described by Goodwin as a 'drive-by shooting'. But the banker was removed as a condition of the rescue and, in 2012, stripped of his knighthood – awarded only eight years earlier.

He still rakes in nearly £600,000 a year in pension payments.

Scandals continued to plague the bank, including claims it that deliberately drove struggling business customers to the wall in order to seize its assets and shore up RBS's balance sheet. It later admitted it had made mistakes.

Boss Alison Rose was forced to quit in 2023 after a de-banking row involving Reform UK leader Nigel Farage. She was succeeded by Paul Thwaite (pictured left). RBS renamed itself NatWest group in 2020 as it sought to distance itself from its association with the financial crisis.

Last summer, the Government still owned 20 per cent of the bank – but the amount has gradually dwindled since as shares were drip-fed on to the market.