British taxpayer out of the red on bank stakes

The taxpayer has moved out of the red on stakes in Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group after shares in the part-nationalised banks hit six-month highs.

The British Government paid £45.2bn for an 84% stake in RBS at an average cost of 49.9p a share, but the stock is hovering just below the 50p break-even mark after positive comments from banking analysts in recent days.