UK cuts Lloyds Banking Group stake

Britain has cut its stake in Lloyds Banking Group to just below 9% in a renewed attempt to return the lender to full private ownership over the next year.

UK Financial Investments Limited (UKFI), which manages the government’s stake in the bailed-out bank, said earlier this month it would resume share sales that were shelved almost a year ago because of market turbulence.

Yesterday’s announcement of the sale of about 1% of Lloyds’ shares came a day after the bank defied expectations of a post-Brexit earnings squeeze by reporting third-quarter profits largely unchanged from a year earlier.