Corrects headline to show high bar applies to all M&A not only wealth management M&A; no change to text

By Sinead Cruise

LONDON, March 18 (Reuters) - NatWest NWG.L CEO Paul Thwaite said on Tuesday high valuations had made it tougher for the bank to pursue growth in its wealth management business via takeovers, amid rising speculation it is exploring deals to bulk up its business.

Thwaite said NatWest was very pleased with two major deals struck last year with Metro MTRO.L and the banking arm of Sainsbury's SBRY.L, but fresh acquisitions had to meet "a very high bar" financially, strategically and operationally.

"On wealth specifically, the punch line here is that the multiples make it very difficult," he told the Morgan Stanley European Financials conference.

"One would love to have exposure to the dynamics of a bigger wealth business, the demographics, the capital-light income and how that helps distributions. That is why it is in our minds. But we cannot be seduced by that if the economics do not make sense," he added.

After years of heavy restructuring and careful capital management, NatWest is broadly seen as one of Britain's fastest-growing lenders, and has seen its shares rise 91% in the last year, LSEG data shows.

According to the Financial Times, NatWest has held early-stage discussions with Spain's Banco Santander SAN.MC on a potential takeover of its UK retail business.

NatWest has declined to comment on such talks, while Santander has said the division is not for sale.

Thwaite said NatWest remained "very ambitious" about its private bank Coutts, although he said its product set needed to widen to attract more of the brand's traditional target customers as well as more mass affluent consumers.

NatWest acquired 2.5 billion pounds ($3.24 billion) of prime residential mortgages from Metro last July, adding around 10,000 customers to its books, and remains active in a market that has seen competition soar in recent months.

Thwaite described 2025 mortgage lending volumes as good and said the bank was writing business comfortably around its 70 basis point target, but it would remain disciplined about chasing volume if returns were not attractive.

($1 = 0.7712 pounds)

(Reporting by Sinead Cruise; Editing by Jan Harvey)

((sinead.cruise@thomsonreuters.com; 020 7513 5026; Reuters Messaging: sinead.cruise.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net/))