UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt first put the City of London on notice last November of the government’s hopes to sell down a substantial part of the 31.9% stake it still holds in NatWest through a large retail share offering.
Buyers will be able to tuck these stocks into a new British ISA, a tax-free savings account allowing an additional £5,000 annual investment in UK equities free from tax on dividends and capital gains, above the £20,000 that UK citizens can already invest in such schemes.
Trailed for weeks beforehand, the British ISA was confirmed at the budget on March 6, when Hunt also confirmed that the NatWest retail offer will come "this summer at the earliest opportunity".
The British ISA and the NatWest retail share offer are, His Majesty's Treasury says, designed to support the development of a savings and investment culture as well as the UK's wider capital markets.
It
