The US government on Wednesday said it had completed the sale of around 20 percent of its stake in Citigroup, and would press on with the sale of its remaining 6.2 billion shares. Announcing that the first block sale shares netted around 6.2 billion dollars, before charges, the Treasury Department said it would "continue selling its shares in the market in an orderly fashion."
The move is part of Washington's efforts to recoup taxpayer dollars by winding up investments that were designed to prop up teetering financial firms during the depths of the crisis.
Wednesday's announcement marks the second phase in one of the biggest stock sales in history.
At the depths of the crisis the government injected a total of 45 billion dollars into Citi, once the world's biggest banking group.
The New York-based company faced massive losses in the wake of the mortgage crisis and came perilously close to seeing a run on its deposits as confidence in the system collapsed.
Despite repaying some 20 billion dollars to the authorities in December, Citi is still one of the last of the major banks operating in the shadow of a US government bailout.
The government had held off selling its share stake in the firm until now, no doubt dissuaded by its low market value.
