![\"NatWest](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/natwest.jpeg\")
\t\tNatWest Group logo is seen in this illustration taken January 7, 2026. REUTERS\/Dado Ruvic\/Illustration\t<\/p>\n\t\t\tWednesday 25 March 2026 10:14 am
\n\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Updated:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\tWednesday 25 March 2026 12:53 pm\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\tNatWest Group logo is seen in this illustration taken January 7, 2026. REUTERS\/Dado Ruvic\/Illustration\t<\/p>\n
Natwest has sold its human resources advisory arm to a private-equity backed rival in the latest deal by the banking giant on the road to streamlining its operations.<\/a><\/p>\n The FTSE 100 titan has offloaded Mentor \u2013 its small business HR support service \u2013 to Empowering People Group, a specialist HR service backed by Limerston Capital.<\/p>\n Limerston created the group through its 2016 acquisition of Adviserplus and subsequent add-ons of legal and employment firms including Halborns in 2020 and Learning Nexus in 2022.<\/p>\n Mentor holds a customer base of around 100,000 small and medium-sized business customers and takes a focus on employment law, HR, health and safety and environmental compliance.<\/p>\n The terms of the deal have not been disclosed. The some 220 people working at Mentor are expected to be transferred to the new owner as part of the deal.<\/p>\n \t\tNatwest shakes up structure<\/p>\n The deal marks the latest in a string of manoeuvres by Natwest boss Paul Thwaite<\/a> to tidy up the business\u2019 structure. <\/p>\n Last year, the bank offloaded its workplace pensions fintech Cushon to Willis Towers Watson.<\/p>\n Thwaite\u2019s have targeted a more active balance sheet and moves into areas that offer a more stable source of income such as wealth management.<\/p>\n Banking giants have ramped up pushes into wealth in the last year with the division offering lenders a less volatile and more capital-light source of income, due to its reliance on recurring fees rather than the interest rate fluctuations that affect traditional lending.<\/p>\n Natwest splashed a whopping \u00a32.7bn \u2013 its biggest deal since the financial crisis<\/a> \u2013 to snap up Evelyn Partners in February, taking the wealth manager out of the hands of private equity owners Permira and Warburg.<\/p>\n Thwaite described the move as creating the \u201cthird growth engine\u201d for the group with Evelyn\u2019s \u00a369bn assets under management under the the Natwest umbrella making it the largest of the bank-owned wealth managers with a total of \u00a3127bn assets.<\/p>\n