Lawmakers in Britain yesterday challenged public officials over whether they had allowed more than £2bn (€2.73bn) of government shares in Royal Bank of Scotland — the owner of Ulster Bank — to be sold too cheaply last month.

Britain has cut its stake in Lloyds Banking Group to below 17%, the country’s finance ministry said in a stock-market disclosure yesterday, taking the sum recovered by the UK taxpayer to £11.5bn (€16.2bn).

Britain will launch a sale of shares in Lloyds to private retail investors in the next 12 months in what is expected to be the biggest privatisation since Margaret Thatcher’s government sold off assets in the 1980s.

Britain is closer to selling part of its stake in Royal Bank of Scotland after seeing a growing appetite for the bank’s shares from financial institutions and it could offer some of the stock to private retail investors.

A £3.21bn chunk of UK-taxpayer-backed Lloyds Banking Group has been sold by the British Government as it begins the process of returning the bank to private hands.

The son of a former Bank of England governor has been appointed chief executive of the body that manages government stakes in the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group.

Just as the British government is trying to clear a path for the politically sensitive sale of its 39% stake in Lloyds Bank, resentment is brewing among the investors who would be expected to buy the stock.

Radical plans to split Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) into a “good” bank and a “bad” bank must be looked at immediately as part of an urgent rethink of Government plans for privatisation, according to an influential Parliamentary commission.

Royal Bank of Scotland saw its pay report overwhelmingly backed today as the taxpayer-backed bank reassured its investors it wanted to become “a bank that is built to last”.

Part state-owned British banks Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland announced 1,900 job cuts yesterday, drawing the anger of the Unite trade union, which said it had written to the government urging it to intervene.

A £963,000 bonus for the boss of a UK taxpayer-funded bank has been attacked as “out of touch” by Labour, as a British government minister claimed he had a public “duty” to refuse it.

Royal Bank of Scotland boss Stephen Hester saw his controversial £7.7m pay package rubberstamped by the Government today as the bank insisted it had to pay staff “fairly”.

The controversial £7.7m (€8.78m) pay package awarded to Royal Bank of Scotland's boss is expected to be given the all-clear by the British government today despite a widespread backlash over the deal.

Nationalised UK lender Northern Rock said today it was paying staff £13.1m (€15.2m) in bonuses for 2010 despite posting a multimillion-pound loss for the year.

Royal Bank of Scotland is expected to remain in the red tomorrow when the part-nationalised player reveals full-year figures.

The body charged with managing British taxpayer-owned banking assets said today that it had pulled off a "real coup" in hiring investment banker Jim O'Neil to oversee the sale of stakes in Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Investors in British taxpayer-backed Lloyds Banking Group today protested over executive pay plans at the firm’s annual general meeting.

Part-nationalised lender Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) today posted a £3.6bn (€4.09bn) loss for last year.

Royal Bank of Scotland is to pay bonuses totalling £1.3bn (€1.47bn) to its investment bankers despite expectations of grim annual results tomorrow.

Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Stephen Hester could be in line for a bonus of up to £1.6m (€1.82m) this week despite the bank's predicted hefty losses, it was reported today.

Part-nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland is preparing to hand out huge bonuses to investment bankers despite expected annual losses of £7bn (€8bn), it was reported today.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has indicated it will bow to pressure to slash executive bonuses after a bruising row with the British Treasury, it was reported today.

UK Chancellor Alistair Darling will this week outline plans to sell nationalised lender Northern Rock to a player with little presence in the mortgage market under plans to revive competition in the banking sector, it was reported today.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) confirmed its chief executive Stephen Hester is in line for a pay package of more than £9.7m (€11.3m) if he leads a turnaround of the ailing lender.

Royal Bank of Scotland is set to reveal a £9.6m (€11.4m) pay package for its chief executive, it was reported today.

Banking stocks rallied higher today amid reports over UK government plans to offload its bank stakes.

Royal Bank of Scotland shares rose 5% today after weakness in the commodities sector was offset by a flurry of buying interest in financial stocks.

The British government body charged with overseeing State-owned bank stakes today threw its weight behind Lloyds Banking Group ahead of its annual meeting later this week.

Nationalised British lender Northern Rock is to be sold off by the end of the year as the UK government seeks to retrieve money pumped into the banking sector, it was reported today.

Beleaguered Royal Bank of Scotland shareholders will voice their fury after a catastrophic year for the bank at its annual meeting today.

The British government’s investment arm is understood to be planning a protest vote against former Royal Bank of Scotland boss Fred Goodwin’s controversial pension, it was reported today.

A detailed probe is being drawn up into Fred Goodwin’s 10-year stint in charge of bailed-out Royal Bank of Scotland.

Huge payouts to executives at banks bailed out by the British government were under scrutiny tonight amid legal moves to claw back any unnecessary payments.

Staff at a bank bailed-out by the taxpayer are likely to receive some bonuses, British Chancellor Alistair Darling indicated today as pressure increased for any payments to be halted.

The part-nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland is being propped up with £20bn (€22.8bn) of the UK's public money and is 68% owned by the British taxpayer.

The British government will manage taxpayers' multi-billion-pound stakes in some of the country's biggest banks on an “arms length” basis rather than through direct boardroom control, it was revealed today.