Rick Haythornthwaite is the chair of NatWest. 

As NatWest, the bank I chair - or RBS as it was then - returns to full private ownership for the first time since the global financial crisis, I can still vividly recall the fear that gripped markets and the country in those fraught weeks of October 2008.

At that time, I was Chair of Mastercard in the United States. And although we were not at the epicentre of the storm, our customers and colleagues certainly were.

These events took place nearly two decades ago, but remain fresh in my mind.

Fear that the ATMs would stop working. That the whole financial system – savings, mortgages, cash - would grind to a halt, with results that could barely be contemplated.

It was a time of extraordinary uncertainty that required extraordinary action.

The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and the Treasury team, led by the then Chancellor Alistair Darling, were under enormous pressure. 

They took a bold decision to step in and rescue our banking system and, by extension, our economy.

While the passage of time makes it easy to underplay this moment of reckoning, we at NatWest remain incredibly grateful to the government, and to UK taxpayers, for their intervention.

It stabilised the UK financial system at a time of global crisis.

It saved the country’s banks and, in turn, protected millions of borrowers, homeowners, savers and businesses.

And it provided the capital for UK banks first to survive and later to undertake the fundamental change that was required.

In 2008, RBS Group was fleetingly the biggest bank in the world, with £2.2 trillion of assets, larger than the entire GDP of the UK.

For over a decade, the bank was in recovery mode. Initially this was ‘life support’ but, as the bank was stabilised, there was the opportunity to refocus.

Today, having rebranded to NatWest Group, we are simpler, safer and focused on our customers. We are consistently profitable, with around 95 per cent of our revenues coming from the UK.

And finally - after 17 years - it was yesterday announced that the government is no longer a shareholder in our bank.

Although this has no strategic or operational impact, it is a significant symbolic moment, marking a new, forward-looking chapter in our story.

Of course, it is not just NatWest Group that has changed since 2008.

The balance sheets of banks across the UK have fundamentally transformed, allowing us to continue lending and supporting our customers through a number of real-life stress-tests – from the Covid pandemic, to energy price shocks through to costing of living challenges. 

These events have shown that our banking system is strong and resilient to the biggest pressures.

In part, this is because of the sweeping regulatory changes put in place after the financial crisis. 

This high-quality regulation is a competitive advantage - valued by global investors - and is something we should protect, even though there are clear opportunities to reduce duplication and complexity.

Perhaps the biggest transformation has been in the City’s culture. Those in power are rightly held to high standards. 

And industry leaders, Boards and regulators have focused on embedding values that encourage employees to act in the best interests of both the consumer and wider society.

The financial crisis showed us the consequences of when ambition comes before customers. 

Today NatWest Group is about winning with our customers, rather than winning at all costs.

Of course, customers themselves have higher expectations too. The continued pace of technological change, along with increases in competition, have shifted the balance in benefit of the customer. 

They can choose how and where they bank – at any time of night or day.

We are at an inflexion point, not just in our bank’s history, but in the context in which we’re operating.

With the country’s banking sector going through almost two decades of recovery, it is fitting that growth is now at the top of the national agenda.

With the right foundations and support in place, financial services can help to unlock the investment required to create high-quality jobs, improve our country’s infrastructure and boost growth across every region and nation of the UK.

NatWest Group is ready to step up to this challenge. And we could not have done it without the support of the taxpayer 17 years ago.

We are in a position where we have moved on from the issues of the past, without forgetting the lessons. 

We have the scale and presence in communities around the country and, crucially, a strong balance sheet which means we can lend to our customers and help drive economic growth.

We are here to support the ambitions of people throughout the UK, turning possibilities into progress. 

Whether that is helping a family to buy a home, supporting an entrepreneur to start their first business or providing a growing firm with the insights and funding to create jobs and access new markets.

Ultimately, that is what a bank should do.