A sale of the U.K.’s £65.8 billion stake in Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is estimated to commence in 2012, Bloomberg reports. Lloyds, which is 41% government-owned, is likely to be offered to investors first as the London-based lender is better prepared for a sale. The government will seek to return RBS, 83% taxpayer-owned, to majority private ownership by the end of 2014. Potential proceeds from selling the entirety of taxpayer shareholdings in the two banks are equivalent to over 4% of annual GDP, expected to be about £1.5 trillion this year, according to OBR, the agency monitoring government borrowing.
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