The government has reduced its stake in Lloyds Banking Group to below three per cent via a series of share sales.
The Treasury said today (15 March) that it has recovered over £19.5bn of the £20.3bn injected into Lloyds during the financial crisis, once share sales and dividends received are accounted for.
Simon Kirby, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury said that the government now expects to recover all of the money injected into the bank during the financial crisis.
He pointed to Lloyds' recent annual results, which showed the highest profit for the bank in a decade, as evidence that the government is in a good position to reduce its shareholding.
While the government has been able to sell off Lloyds shares, it has struggled to divest itself of shares in Royal Bank of Scotland, also acquired in the crisis. It said last week that it was unsure when it would be able to divest itself of its over 70 per cent stake in the bank.
RBS is yet to return to profit and has posted ten consecutive years of losses.
‘The government will continue to seek opportunities for disposals, but the need to resolve legacy issues makes it uncertain as to when these will occur,’ the government said
