BANKS are returning to an executive pay culture that led to the 2008 financial crash amid bumper profits fuelled by their public bailouts, experts warned today.

NatWest’s plans to increase its CEO’s maximum pay award by more than 40 per cent after a bigger-than-expected £6.2 billion profit for 2024 have sparked fresh calls for a windfall tax on banking profits.

Chief executive Paul Thwaite boasted that shedding the government’s less than 7 per cent shareholding would mark a “new, forward-looking chapter” with NatWest expecting to reach full privatisation within months.