Britain banks £2.5bln for slice of RBS

London: Britain´s government on Tuesday said it had sold a small chunk of state-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland for more than £2.5 billion ($3.3 billion, 2.8 billion euros), albeit at a loss.

Britain on Monday resumed privatisation of the Royal Bank of Scotland, which at the height of the global financial crisis a decade ago underwent the world´s biggest bailout by taxpayers.

The Conservative government headed by Prime Minister Theresa May has sold a 7.7-percent stake in RBS, leaving it still with a majority holding of 62.4 percent, much of which it plans to offload through to 2023.

"Over £2.5 billion worth of government-owned RBS shares were sold last night as part of the government´s policy to return the bank to private ownership," the Treasury said in a statement.

A total of 925 million shares were each sold for £2.71. However, this was at a total loss of £2.1 billion, with the government having spent about £5.0 per share in a rescue costing the taxpayer £45.5 billion.