The government has continued to make sales of its shares in Lloyds Banking Group, reducing its remaining shareholding to less than 7%.
The latest share sales, conducted via the trading plan, mean that the government has now recovered over £17.5 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, 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 £17.5 billion for the taxpayer.
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 30 June 2016. The government announced on 7 October 2016 that further sales of Lloyds shares would also be made through a trading plan.
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. This announcement therefore notifies the market that the government has reduced its shareholding in Lloyds to below 7%.
All proceeds from the sales are used to reduce the national debt.