Taxpayer Tab Settled

 

Lloyds Banking Group has finally settled its tab with the taxpayer. The Government has confirmed its remaining shares in Lloyds Banking Group have been sold, 8 years after pumping in £20 billion to save it.

 

At the height of the financial crisis taxpayers owned 43% of Lloyds. Today, the share sales represent a profit of around £500 million for the Government. However, don’t expect the Government to be making a song and dance about the Lloyds sale……it is far too emotive a subject that will divide opinion. Especially leading up to a General Election!

 

The louder voice being bellowed currently in the media is one of wasted opportunity……what else and how else the UK could have benefited from £20 billion. What growth / jobs / profit / services / etc. could have been developed with that money. It’s amazing how good ‘hindsight commentators’ think they are!

 

However, we have got our money back and made a profit……but this was never an investment - it was the rescue of a bank that was drowning. And that is the point that the hindsight commentators are missing……it wasn’t an investment. Interestingly, nobody seems able to give a figure on the financial blackhole that would have been created if we hadn’t made the £20 billion rescue.

 

A return of £500 million has not excited many……but it looks a long way better than the substantial losses we could make by selling the taxpayer’s 73% stake in Royal Bank of Scotland (which is still losing money all these years later).

 

You win some, you lose some. Bag the £500 million and move on.