NatWest is to acquire wealth management firm Evelyn Partners in a £2.7 billion deal, according to an announcement made this morning.
One of the UK’s biggest banks, NatWest has agreed to buy Evelyn Partners in a deal expected to complete in the summer of 2026, a joint release from the two financial institutions stated.
When Evelyn Partners’ £69 billion of assets under management (AUM) are combined with NatWest Group’s £59 billion within its private banking and wealth management divisions, the latter will oversee a combined £128 billion of assets once the deal has gone through.
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On the deal completing, NatWest chief executive Paul Thwaite said: ‘Bringing together these two leading businesses creates a unique opportunity to provide financial planning, savings and investment services to more families and people across the UK.’
‘At a time when the benefits of saving and investing are increasingly part of the national conversation, we can help customers to make more of their money through a broader range of services, as well as helping to drive growth and investment across the economy,’ he added.
Evelyn Partners CEO Paul Geddes said: ‘We are hugely excited by the opportunity which this transaction presents, providing us with greater scale and resources, for the benefit of our clients and colleagues.’
Evelyn Partners was formed in 2020 from the merger of Tilney and Smith & Williamson and is one of the UK’s leading integrated wealth management and professional services groups.
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A leader in the ‘mass affluent’ division of private banking, which serves customers with investable assets of between £100,000 and £1 million, the minimum entry point for Evelyn Partners’ discretionary portfolio management service is £250,000.
Coutts, the private bank owned by NatWest Group, has a minimum entry requirement of either at least £3 million in savings or investable assets or £1 million in investments alone. With longstanding links to the Royal Family, the wealth manager held £49 billion in AUM in the first quarter of 2025, making it a significant part of NatWest Group’s private finance offering.
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The news comes after Barclays and NatWest both submitted formal offers to buy Evelyn Partners last week, according to a Sky News report.
The wealth manager’s private equity owners, Permira and Warburg Pincus, have expressed an interest in selling the firm since 2022, when they hired investment bank Evercore to explore exit options.
Other banks previously linked to a potential acquisition of Evelyn Partners include Lloyds and the Royal Bank of Canada.
NatWest took control of Sainsbury’s Bank’s retail banking assets in May 2025, following a deal agreed in June 2024 with the supermarket’s financial services division.
NatWest returned to full private ownership in May 2025 after the UK government sold its final shares in the business, following the taxpayer-funded bailout of NatWest Group, then named Royal Bank of Scotland, after the 2008 financial crisis.
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