Government cuts stake in Lloyds Banking Group to below 5%

The Government's stake in Lloyds now stands at 4.889 per cent

Earlier this month, UKFI already reduced its stake in Lloyds from 6.93 per cent to 5.95 per cent (Getty)

The UK Government has trimmed its stake in Lloyds Banking Group to just under the 5 per cent threshold, in a bid to return the whole bank to private ownership over the next few months.

UK Financial Investments Limited, the arm of the government which manages the holding on behalf of the Treasury, said in filing on Monday that it had sold some of its shares on Thursday reducing its stake in Lloyds to 4.889 per cent.

Earlier this month, UKFI already reduced its stake in Lloyds from 6.93 per cent to 5.95 per cent.

UKFI has not stated the price that it received for the stake, but shares in Lloyds have been trading around the 65p mark over the past month – a significant discount to the 73.6p taxpayers paid to bail out the stricken lender during the financial crisis.

The Government still holds a more than 70 per cent stake in Royal Bank of Scotland, which has been hit by a string of charges and scandals that have suppressed the share price and made an imminent disposal look unlikely.

Lloyds is due to report full-year earnings on 22 February followed by RBS on 24 February.