Lloyds Bank share price hits taxpayer break-even level

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22564682

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Lloyds Banking Group's share price passed 61.2p in morning trading, the break-even point for the government's investment in the group.

British taxpayers own 39% of Lloyds after the government pumped £20.5bn ($31.4bn) into the debt-laden bank in 2009.

Above this level, taxpayers would be in profit if the government began selling off chunks of its holding.

Shares in Lloyds, the UK's largest retail bank, have risen 125% in a year.

Investor sentiment has improved following chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio's announcement that the bank would probably return to profitability in 2013.

UK taxpayers also own 82% of Royal Bank of Scotland, which has also seen an improvement in its share price - up 54% over the year.

But a Treasury spokesman told the BBC that there were no immediate plans to begin selling off its shareholdings in either bank, although most commentators expect re-privatisations to take place before the 2015 general election.

And UK Financial Investments, the government body that manages the state's holdings in the banks, is understood not to be targeting a particular share price before recommending a sale.

Lloyds is still trying to offload 631 bank branches after the deal with the Co-operative Bank fell through in April.

The bank has to downsize under European competition rules, which deemed the government's bailout as state aid.