British government to begin sale of RBS stake

The British government announced Wednesday it would begin selling its Royal Bank of Scotland stake, even though its share price is below what it paid to rescue the bank in a record 2008 bailout. In an annual address to the London financial community, Chancellor George Osborne said the government would begin selling its 80 percent stake in RBS, which it rescued with public money at a cost of £45.5 billion ($70.6 billion, 62 billion euros). "In the coming months we will begin to sell our stake in RBS," Osborne told the audience at Mansion House, the residence of the mayor of London.