The government has continued to sell shares in Lloyds Banking
Group, reducing its remaining shareholding to less than 5%.
The latest sales, conducted via the trading plan, mean the
government has recovered over £18.5 billion of the £20.3 billion
taxpayers injected into Lloyds during the financial crisis, once
share sales and dividends received are accounted for.
Economic Secretary to the Treasury, , said:
“Since our decision to sell the Government's stake in Lloyds we
have recovered over 90% of the money taxpayers injected into the
bank during the financial crisis. This represents real progress
and I am delighted that we are on track to return Lloyds to
private ownership.”
A trading plan involves gradually selling shares in the market
over time, in an orderly and measured way.
The Lloyds trading plan initially ran from
17 December 2014 to 31 June 2016.
The government announced on 7 October 2016 that further sales of
Lloyds shares would also be made through a trading plan.
On 9 January 2017, the government announced it had passed a
significant milestone in returning Lloyds to the private sector
when it confirmed it was no longer the bank’s largest
shareholder.
As required by Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules, Lloyds
Banking Group announced today that the government’s shareholding
in the bank has crossed through a one percentage point threshold
– therefore notifying the market that the government has reduced
its shareholding in Lloyds to below 5%.
All proceeds from the sales are used to reduce the national debt.
