The UK taxpayer is set to make a profit of £500m on the £20.3bn government bailout of Lloyds during the financial crisis.

The government now owns just 0.25% of Lloyds Bank Group, which is days away from returning to full private ownership, as reported by the BBC.

While it is good news that the bank can pay back an additional £500m, this profit was made not just through sound financial management, but through branch closures and redundancies.

Lloyds is set to close its Montpellier (Cheltenham), Bourton-on-the-Water, Broadway and Tetbury branches over the next few months. The Newent branch closed last year and Winchcombe closed earlier this year.

The loss of these banks will hit small businesses which still handle a lot of cash. And online banking is not always an option in smaller rural towns, where broadband is often slow and unreliable.

Lloyds announced earlier this year that many more branches nationally would be downsized to micro banks, staffed by just two people.

The banking group, which has a major centre at Barnwood, previously announced it was closing 400 of its branches around the UK, with 9,000 job losses.

The government bailed out Lloyds in 2008 and originally had a 43% stake in the bank.

What do you think? Email mark@moosemarketingandpr.co.uk