On the first leg of a tour of Gulf states, Stephen Hester told The National the bank had cleaned up its balance sheet and resolved the problems that brought it to the brink of collapse in 2009.
"I'd be happy if the government started selling shares today," Mr Hester said yesterday in Abu Dhabi. "We're ready to stand on our own two feet."
The process of privatising the bank would be unlikely to start until regulatory changes to the British banking system were complete, and the timing of any share sale would ultimately be decided by the UK government, he added. But he said he hoped it could get under way next year.
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