NatWest is dealing with a $1.1 billion damages declare from Tandanor, a shipyard in Buenos Aires, over alleged fraudulent conduct throughout its privatisation in 1991, the financial institution has disclosed in its half-year outcomes.
The FTSE 100 financial institution stated the declare, first filed in 2012, sought unquantified damages till December, when the claimants filed an replace placing the determine at $1.1 billion.
The case pertains to the sale of the state-owned shipyard below Argentina’s then-president Carlos Menem within the early Nineteen Nineties.
In line with NatWest, the declare was introduced by Tandanor in opposition to what’s now often called the “consultant workplace” of the Royal Financial institution of Scotland Argentine department and 11 non-public people. The financial institution stated the consultant workplace, which is in liquidation, had a 2.9 per cent “participation” within the privatisation.
The consultant workplace inherited the declare from Banco Holandés Unido, a financial institution that shaped a part of the Dutch group ABN Amro and was purchased by RBS in 2007. The Argentine ministry of defence joined Tandanor’s declare in 2014.
An Argentine courtroom initially dismissed the declare as a result of it had been filed too lengthy after the alleged occasions. NatWest stated the dismissal, on “limitation grounds”, got here in 2018, and that the claimants had been unsuccessful in subsequent appeals.
Nonetheless, the financial institution stated a collection of judicial proceedings since November 2024 means the case has now returned to the Argentine Federal District Courtroom “for additional consideration”.
NatWest stated: “The consultant workplace continues to defend the declare and has requested a listening to.”
The disclosure got here in outcomes wherein NatWest reported revenue earlier than tax up 20.4 per cent to £4.3 billion for the primary half of 2026. The financial institution had posted first-quarter income of £2 billion in Could, when it raised its revenue steerage for the yr.
The declare is a legacy of RBS’s enlargement earlier than the monetary disaster. RBS was bailed out by the taxpayer in 2008, modified its title to NatWest in 2020 and returned to full non-public possession final yr after the Treasury bought down the stake it took within the £45.5 billion rescue.
Tandanor was privatised in 1991 and, in accordance with its web site, was renationalised in 2007.
No listening to date has been set. NatWest’s outcomes didn’t embrace any estimate of the potential consequence of the proceedings.
Amy Ingham
Amy Ingham is a reporter at Enterprise Issues, overlaying UK enterprise information with a concentrate on breaking information, enterprise coverage, late funds and insolvency. She joined the journal in 2026 after finishing the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism at Harlow Faculty’s journalism faculty. Her latest reporting consists of British Metal’s nationalisation and its impression on SME suppliers, the decline in late funds by giant corporations, and Insolvency Service director disqualifications. Attain her at aingham@cbmeg.co.uk.
