Ahead of its annual meeting on April 23, lender NatWest has asked its investors to back a resolution that would enable it to acquire up to 15% of its total stock from the government in a 12-month period, up from a previous ceiling of 5% a year.

The British government, which bailed out the lender at the height of the 2007-9 financial crisis, recently reduced its stake in NatWest to below 30%, making it no longer a controlling shareholder.

Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which operates the Norwegian fund, is one of NatWest's biggest investors, with a 3.23% stake in the British bank at the end of 2023, valued at the time at $794.3 million.

NBIM did not give a reason for approving the motion.

(Reporting by Greta Rosen Fondahn, editing by Terje Solsvik)