Tell Sid! RBS shares go on sale this year

THE public are to be given the chance to buy shares in the bailed-out Royal Bank of Scotland for the first time, the Chancellor is set to announce.

George Osborne will lay out plans for privatising the bank in his Mansion House speech next week, nearly seven years after it was rescued by the taxpayer, sources say.

The bank was bailed out by the British taxpayer to the tune of £45.2billion for an 80 per cent stake.

The share sale would be one of the most significant ever carried out.

The sell-off could get under way as early as the end of September, and could include a substantial share sale to individuals as well as City investors, it was suggested last night.

The reports came as the Treasury confirmed ordinary people will be able to buy shares in Lloyds for the first time within the next 12 months – with up to £4billion up for grabs in a sale reminiscent of the ‘Tell Sid’ privatisations of the 1980s.

The Treasury declined to comment on the content of Mr Osborne’s speech but those familiar with the process say it would be ‘an obvious platform’ for the Chancellor to outline his plans for RBS.

RBS shares closed at 341p yesterday, well below the 502p price at which the government rescued the bank.

But it is understood the Chancellor is prepared to sell some shares at a loss to stimulate demand and drive up the price.

Senior RBS sources told the Financial Times, shares could be sold from the end of the year, after the bank pays off billions of pounds in fines for a long-running probe into mis-selling of sub prime mortgages.

Mr Osborne said in March that he wanted to ‘get rid’ of the Government’s RBS stake ‘as quickly as we can’.