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

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. 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, but we need to be realistic and look at the market conditions." Share...