LONDON, April 24 (Reuters) - The size of the stake owned byBritish taxpayers in Lloyds Banking Group has fallen bya further 1 percent to below 21 percent, the government agencyin charge of managing the interest said on Friday.
UK Financial Investments said the public shareholding of HMTreasury in the British bank has been reduced to 20.95 percent,in another milestone towards restoring the bank to full privateownership.
News of the reduction comes less than two weeks before theBritish General Election and shortly after Lloyds, rescued at acost of 20 billion pounds during the financial crisis, paid itsfirst dividend in more than six years.
"Today's announcement shows the further progress made inreturning Lloyds Banking Group to full private ownership andenabling the taxpayer to get their money back," a Lloyds BankingGroup spokesperson said in a statement.
"This reflects the hard work undertaken over the last fouryears to transform the Group into a simple, low-risk andcustomer-focused bank that is committed to helping Britainprosper." (Reporting By Sinead Cruise, editing by Nishant Kumar)