Government offloads 7.7% of RBS shares at £2.1bn loss

Reduces stake to 62.4%

The UK government has sold a 7.7% stake in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), reducing its ownership of the bank it bailed out with a £45bn rescue package in 2008 to around 62.4% from 70.1%.

At £2.71 each, shares were sold at almost half the £5.02 per share paid by the government at the height of the financial crisis, resulting in a loss of £2.1bn. UK government set to reduce multi-billion pound stake in RBS - reports Treasury economic secretary John Glen told the BBC's Today programme the return was "based on the reality of the situation that RBS is now in", with the bank "a completely different institution to where it was ten years ago". He added: "I would love it if we could sell the shares at a much higher price. "Obviously that is what everyone would like to do...