British government no longer NatWest's controlling shareholder

The British government is no longer the controlling shareholder in NatWest - the bank it bailed out at the height of the global financial crisis - and has reduced its stake in the lender to below 30%, the finance ministry said on Monday.

"This is a significant milestone demonstrating we're making excellent progress on fully returning NatWest to private ownership," economic secretary Bim Afolami said in a statement. The government's ownership of the former Royal Bank of Scotland dipped below 30% after the sale of further stock to institutional investors under the government's trading plan.