The Treasury has sold another slug of NatWest shares, taking the taxpayer’s stake in the high street bank to under 9%.
The government took its holding in the lender to 8.9% from 9.9% by selling 86 million shares to investors, according to a stock market statement.
The taxpayer’s stake in the lender has fallen by more than two-thirds since last December, as Chancellor Rachel Reeves bids to fully exit the holding by 2025-26.
In September, Reeves scrapped the former Conservative administration’s plans to sell the state-owned shares to the general public in high profile TV campaign that would have featured former newsreader Sir Trevor McDonald.
Reeves said the discounted public sale would “not represent value for money”.
The Treasury’s share sales in the bank hit two milestones last year.
In March, the shareholding fell below 30%, meaning the government was no longer classed as a “controlling shareholder”
In July, the stake dropped below 20% meaning that by next year, the state will no longer be considered a “related party” – which requires additional transparency around its relationship with the bank.
Last month, NatWest chief executive Paul Thwaite said the bank was on a “fast trajectory to private ownership,” which could see the government sell off its stake in the lender by the first half of this year.
The sale means the government has now recouped more than £20bn from the sale of shares since the state rescued the bank from going bust during the height of the financial crisis in 2008.
Taxpayers took an 84% stake in the business at the time after pumping £45.5bn into the lender.