The UK government said on Wednesday that Lloyds Banking Group — which includes Bank of Scotland and Halifax — had been fully returned to private ownership following the sale of the government’s remaining shares in the group.

The government acquired a 43% shareholding in Lloyds in 2009 following a £20.3 billion bailout of the bank during the financial crisis.

Lloyds Banking Group announced it completed the “successful delivery” of a strategy that enabled group to “return more than £22.2 billion to the British taxpayer, repaying £894 million more than the original investment.”

The UK Treasury said in a statement: “Shares were sold through accelerated bookbuilds (ABBs) in September 2013 and March 2014.

“ABBs involve selling a large block of shares to institutional investors overnight.

“Additional shares were sold through two trading plans which ran from December 2014 to June 2016, and from October 2016 to May 2017.

“A trading plan involves drip-feeding shares into the market on a daily basis, over an extended period of time.

“In addition, the government has also received dividend payments in relation to its shareholding.”