NatWest faces $1.1bn Argentina shipyard claim

NatWest is facing a $1.1 billion damages claim from Tandanor, a shipyard in Buenos Aires, over alleged fraudulent conduct during its privatisation in 1991, the bank has disclosed in its half-year results.

The FTSE 100 bank said the claim, first filed in 2012, sought unquantified damages until December, when the claimants filed an update putting the figure at $1.1 billion.

The case relates to the sale of the state-owned shipyard under Argentina’s then-president Carlos Menem in the early 1990s.

According to NatWest, the claim was brought by Tandanor against what is now known as the “representative office” of the Royal Bank of Scotland Argentine branch and 11 private individuals. The bank said the representative office, which is in liquidation, had a 2.9 per cent “participation” in the privatisation.

The representative office inherited the claim from Banco Holandés Unido, a bank that formed part of the Dutch group ABN Amro and was bought by RBS in 2007. The Argentine ministry of defence joined Tandanor’s claim in 2014.

An Argentine court initially dismissed the claim because it had been filed too long after the alleged events. NatWest said the dismissal, on “limitation grounds”, came in 2018, and that the claimants were unsuccessful in subsequent appeals.

However, the bank said a series of judicial proceedings since November 2024 means the case has now returned to the Argentine Federal District Court “for further consideration”.

NatWest said: “The representative office continues to defend the claim and has requested a hearing.”

The disclosure came in results in which NatWest reported profit before tax up 20.4 per cent to £4.3 billion for the first half of 2026. The bank had posted first-quarter profits of £2 billion in May, when it raised its income guidance for the year.

The claim is a legacy of RBS’s expansion before the financial crisis. RBS was bailed out by the taxpayer in 2008, changed its name to NatWest in 2020 and returned to full private ownership last year after the Treasury sold down the stake it took in the £45.5 billion rescue.

Tandanor was privatised in 1991 and, according to its website, was renationalised in 2007.

No hearing date has been set. NatWest’s results did not include any estimate of the potential outcome of the proceedings.

Amy Ingham

Amy Ingham is a reporter at Business Matters, covering UK business news with a focus on breaking news, business policy, late payments and insolvency. She joined the magazine in 2026 after completing the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism at Harlow College’s journalism school. Her recent reporting includes British Steel’s nationalisation and its impact on SME suppliers, the decline in late payments by large firms, and Insolvency Service director disqualifications. Reach her at aingham@cbmeg.co.uk.

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