The government has reduced its remaining shareholding in Lloyds Banking Group to less than 7 per cent.
The latest share sales, conducted via the trading plan, mean the government has recovered more than £17.5bn of the £20.3bn taxpayers injected into Lloyds during the financial crisis.
Economic secretary to the Treasury Simon Kirby said: “Selling our shares in Lloyds Banking Group and making sure that we get back all the cash taxpayers injected into it during the financial crisis is a key government priority.
“So I am pleased that we have continued to reduce our stake in Lloyds, and have now recovered over £17.5bn for the taxpayer.”
The Lloyds trading plan initially ran from 17 December 2014 to 30 June 2016.
Former chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne had planned to sell the final Lloyds stake in spring this year through an offering to retail and institutional investors, with the former receiving a 5 per cent discount plus a bonus share for every 10 held for more than a year.
But this was put on hold at the beginning of this year because of market volatility.
Mr Osborne’s successor, Philip Hammond, announced on 7 October 2016 that more sales of Lloyds shares would be made through a trading plan.
At that time Mr Hammond scrapped Mr Osborne’s plans of selling the shares to retail investors completely, citing market volatility.
Financial Conduct Authority rules mean Lloyds Banking Group must announce when the government’s shareholding in the bank has crossed through a one percentage point threshold.
All proceeds from the sales are used to reduce the national debt.
damian.fantato@ft.com
