The government has reduced it’s stake from 39% to 19% in Lloyds Bank.

The British government announced on Monday that it will be continuing to sell its stake in Lloyds Banking Group whilst also offering some of its holdings to retail investors over the next year.

The government also announced that it has reduced its stake in Lloyds to just below 19 percent through additional share sales as part of the trading plan which has been extended to run through to December. The government now owns 13.56 billion shares, or 18.99 percent of the bank’s voting rights, while it previously held 14.22 billion shares. The trading plan, which is being managed by Morgan Stanley, had been set to expire this month.

The move is inline with the government’s targets to reduce its holdings in the UK’s largest banks following bailouts during the financial crisis. The government took large stakes in Lloyds and the Royal Bank of Scotland however it is now eager to sell its stake in the two lenders. At current the government still owns 80 percent of RBS.

“We’re determined to get on with the job of returning Lloyds to private ownership,” George Osborne, the chancellor of the Exchequer, said in a news release on Monday. “That’s why I’m extending the plan for six months, so that we can make even more progress in returning money to the taxpayer and paying down the national debt.”

Following the bailout the government held as much as 40 percent of Lloyds in 2008 which had a value of 17 billion pounds ($26 billion at current exchange rates). As the banks fortunes have improved the taxpayers holding was sold from 2013 onwards. Lloyds returned to profit last year and paid its first dividend since the government bailout in May.

The trading plan was first announced in December 2014 and has already returned more than £10.5 billion of the bailout money issued to Lloyds with £3.5 billion coming from the trading plan.

“As with all disposals, delivering value for money for the taxpayer is a key consideration and shares will not be sold below the average price per share paid for them,” U.K. Financial Investments, which manages the government’s holdings in Lloyds and R.B.S., said in a news release.

The government paid an average of 73.6 pence per share when it took ownership in Lloyds and the government has sold roughly 4.2 billion shares at an average price over 80 pence a share since December 2014, U.K. Financial Investments said.

Retail investors are expected to be given the opportunity towards the end of this year to buy shares at a 5% discounted rate from the market value to help return the bank to full public ownership.