Government sells final shares in NatWest 17 years after £45bn bailout

Sale ends state ownership of the banking group, then known as Royal Bank of Scotland, after 2008 rescue

• Hubris, crisis and scandal: how the NatWest soap opera' unfolded

The UK has sold its final shares in NatWest Group, ending 17 years of state ownership since the 45bn taxpayer bailout that saved the bank from collapse at the height of the 2008 financial crisis.

The full privatisation of NatWest is a symbolic moment for the banking group - formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) - and draws a line under the most tumultuous chapter in its near 300-year history.