Treasury sells £500m of Lloyds shares to take taxpayer stake below 20%

Latest share sale means more than 10bn has been recovered from group bailed out during financial crisis

The government has cut its stake in Lloyds Banking Group to less than 20%, taking the amount returned from the bailed-out bank to the taxpayer to more than 10bn.

The Treasury said it sold 500m of Lloyds shares to reduce its holding by a percentage point to 19.93%. The sale was made under a trading plan set up in December to gradually sell shares.