UKFI's Moreno - Bank stake sales could start within year

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain could start selling part of its stakes in banks within a year in a process that will probably take several years, the acting chairman of the body managing the holdings said on Monday.

"I would not be at all surprised to see some transactions occurring within a year or so...and continuing over the next several years, " Glen Moreno, of UK Financial Investments (UKFI), told BBC radio. "It won't happen quickly, but it might happen steadily and our interest will gradually decline."

The government set up UKFI in December to manage the stakes that the state picked up after a 37 billion pound bank bailout.