Brexit: British taxpayers lose £8bn worth of RBS and Lloyds shares after EU vote

Fallout: The Royal Bank of Scotland is 72% owned by the British taxpayer
Alastair Grant/AP
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British taxpayer-owned shares in the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds have taken an £8 billion hit since the EU referendum.

In a tumultuous two days of trading, the two banks - both of which are part-owned by the taxpayer - lost the equivalent of £123 per British citizen over the course of Friday and Monday.

Almost a third was knocked off the share price of RBS, which is 72 per cent owned by the taxpayer, as markets reacted to uncertainty caused by Thursday's Brexit vote.

The 76.2p fall is equal to a massive £8.9 billion.

Lloyds, which is also part-owned by the British taxpayer (9.9 per cent), registered major falls in the two post-Brexit trading days too.

The bank closed 21p down on Monday compared with Thursday – which was before the result of the EU poll was known and when many believed Remain was set for victory.

It means £15bn was wiped off the share value of Lloyds stocks.

Altogether this means the two banks’ trading has cost taxpayers £7.9bn, or about £123 for every UK citizen.

The collapse comes amid global uncertainty which has wiped $930bn of world stock markets in the biggest two day rout ever.

Experts say the scale of the losses highlight how unprepared investors were for the Leave campaign’s surprise victory.

Yesterday the Chancellor George Osborne moved to calm markets jitters as he insisted the UK could face the EU referendum fallout from a “position of strength”.

But by the time markets closed any gains prompted by his intervention appeared to have evaporated.

Joe Rundle, head of trading at ETX Capital, said: "Whatever bounce Osborne delivered, it's gone now as markets are getting slammed again. Today's US open shattered the peace. Wall Street opened sharply lower, with all 30 Dow stocks in the red.

"Cable has hit fresh 31-year lows, shedding 4% on the day. After Friday's freefall it doesn't sound much but these moves are massive in a historical context and it looks like nothing but down for sterling."

On Tuesday morning, both RBS and Lloyds appeared to be rallying, with RBS shares up again by five per cent and Lloyds bouncing 6.3pc to 54.37p.

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