Osborne delays sale of remaining public stake in Lloyds
The British government has delayed selling the last publicly-owned shares of Lloyds Bank citing turbulence in financial markets.
The sell-off was originally planned this spring after Chancellor George Osborne pledged to sell the remaining public stake in the bank. The stake currently stands at a little more than nine percent.
But, Osborne decided to postpone the sale owing to turmoil in global markets. "I want to create a share-owning democracy," he said in a statement on Thursday. "It's also my responsibility to ensure economic responsibility, so with these turbulent financial markets, now is not the right time to have that sale."
The minister did not mention a probable next date for the sale but it is not going to happen until Easter, media reports said.
"We will sell Lloyds to the British people, but we will do so when the time is right," Osborne said.
Lloyds Banking Group was rescued with a bailout at the height of the 2008 global financial crisis. As it was returning to the normal, the Conservative government started reducing its 43-percent stake in the lender, returning billions of pounds to the state coffers.
"This reflects the hard work undertaken over the last four years to transform the group into a simple, low-risk and customer-focused bank", a spokesman said.
"The timing of any future retail sale is a matter for the government. Our focus is on moving the group forward so that it can continue to be profitable and deliver sustainable returns to all our shareholders".
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