The Government reduces its Lloyds stake

Earlier this month, UK Financial Investments Limited (UKFI), which manages the ​G​overnment's stake in the bailed-out bank, said it would resume share sales in a bid to return Lloyds to full private ownership over the next 12 months.

The ​G​overnment sold about 1 per​ ​cent of Lloyds' shares on the same day the bank defied expectations of a post-Brexit squeeze on earnings by reporting third-quarter profits largely unchanged from a year earlier.

C​hancellor​ Philip Hammond said​: "Selling our shares in Lloyds and making sure that we get back all the cash taxpayers injected into it during the financial crisis is one of my top priorities as Chancellor​.".

Lloyds was rescued with a ​£​20.5​bn taxpayer-funded bailout during the 2007-09 financial crisis, leaving the state holding 43 per​ ​cent.

In December 2014, UKFI mandated Morgan Stanley to sell the shares on the open market as long as the stock was trading above the ​G​overnment's average buy-in price of 73.6​p.

So far the ​G​overnment has recouped about ​£​17​bn of taxpayer cash after it began selling off its stake in 2013.