The U.K. government is likely to ditch a sale of Lloyds Banking Group shares to retail investors due to market uncertainty following the Brexit vote. According to newspaper The Times of London, the government — which currently owns 9% of the lender — is set to entirely abandon a plan to offload Lloyds shares at a discount because it would be too costly for the Treasury. Former Treasury chief George Osborne in January promised to sell off the government’s stake in the lender to retail investors at a 5% discount to the market price. At the time, the offer would have allowed the government to claw back the average price of 73.6 pence it paid for Lloyds shares during the financial crisis. However, following the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union, the bank’s shares have slumped to 54.2 pence, setting the Treasury up for steep losses if it carried out the stock sale. The retail offer was scheduled to take place next month. Shares of Lloyds were up 2.1% in early London trade on Monday.
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