Lloyds and RBS back in private hands soon

ROYAL Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group will be back in the private sector in a “relatively short period”, Bank of England Governor Sir Mervyn King said last night.

Sir Mervyn said the economy was “moving in the right direction” and a “gentle recovery” was under way, despite fears that figures this week will reveal a contraction in the UK economy.

GDP data on Friday is expected to show the recovery went into reverse in the last quarter of 2012, with experts forecasting the economy shrank by 0.1 per cent following growth in the previous three months.