UK government cuts stake in Lloyds to just under 5%

The UK government has cut its stake in Lloyds Banking Group to just under 5%, or 3.57bn shares, as it looks to take the bank private again in the next few months.

UK Financial Investments Limited, the government vehicle set up to control taxpayers’ stakes in the banks that were bailed out during the financial crisis, previously held 4.24bn shares in Lloyds.

Back in May last year, the government said it planned a retail sale of its 9.2% shareholding, fully returning the shares to the private sector between 2016 and 2017. But in October, Chancellor Philip Hammond announced the government would only make shares available to institutions rather than retail investors.

He said at the time that returning Lloyds to the private sector and recovering all of the cash the taxpayer injected into the bank during the 2008 crisis was a priority for the government.