Lloyds shares to be offered to retail investors within 12 months

Shares in Lloyds Bank will be sold to private retail investors within the next 12 months, the government has confirmed.

"Further details will be set out in due course," the Treasury said.

The government also said it will be extending its sale of Lloyds through UK Financial Investments and Morgan Stanley until the end of the year.

That scheme was due to conclude at the end of June but the Chancellor George Osborn will now extend the plan to sell a further £9bn ($13.74bn, €12.6bn) of Lloyds shares by 31 December.

The government also announced on Monday (1 June) that it had sold a further 1% of shares in the bank, taking its stake below 19%.

Osborne made noises about offering Lloyds shares to retail investors some time ago but this idea was shelved, probably because of the looming election.

The government propped up Lloyds with a £20bn investment after the 2008 financial crash, leaving it with a 41% stake in the bank.

Lloyds has since returned to profitability, paid dividends and its share price has rallied, allowing the Treasury to make some money back from the deal - not to mention the obvious political capital the Tories scooped from Lloyds just prior to the election.