The UK high-street bank, which was bailed out in the credit crunch after the 2008 financial crisis, is almost completely privately owned again.

The UK government has reduced its stake in Lloyds Banking Group by 1 percentage point to 5.95 per cent, which means it is no longer the largest shareholder. 

The government’s remaining shareholding represents a stark decrease from its 43 per cent shareholding at the time of its £20 billion ($24.32 billion) taxpayer bailout in 2008, highlighting how far the bank has been able to return to private ownership. Separately, Royal Bank of Scotland, also bailed out in the financial crisis, is still majority-owned by the state. Some other countries that bailed out banks have been returning them, in whole or in part, to the stock market, such as ABN AMRO in the Netherlands. 

According to media reports, US asset manager BlackRock is now Lloyds’ biggest shareholder.

“Confirmation that we are no longer the largest shareholder in the bank and that we’ve now recouped over £18 billion for UK taxpayers is further evidence that we are on track to recover all of the £20 billion injected into the bank during the financial crisis,” said Philip Hammond, chancellor of the exchequer, (aka finance minister).

The Treasury added that “all proceeds from the sales are used to reduce the national debt".