Lloyds Banking Grou

The government is prepared to declare the remainder of its shares of Lloyds Banking Group sold following an attempt to save it with £20 billion eight years ago.

The sale will not officially be announced until Wednesday, May 17, 2017, and U.K.Financial Investments, manager of government stakes, is expected to make the announcement.

Taxpayers owned about 43 percent of Lloyds Banking Group during the worst of the financial crisis.Lloyd returning to the private sector contrasts starkly with Royal Bank of Scotland over which taxpayers maintain 73 percent ownership.

For the past five years consecutively, the government has been gradually selling off its stake.According to ministers, public money that was used to buy shares of Lloyds has already been remunerated, but the real value remains hotly debated as opposition claims there has been no accounting for the lost interest.

Some also contend that the government's stake was affected by the significant losses Lloyds previously endured.Regardless, dividend payments to all the shareholders compensated for £20.3 billion of public funds.

Lloyds CEO gave shareholders at the annual meeting last week his prediction that the government would profit by a minimum of £500 million as a result of the bailout.Morgan Stanley sold off the shares at a rate below the average price paid (73.5p) in said bailout.