Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC declared an interim ordinary dividend of 2 pence per share, its first since its £45 billion government bailout in 2008.

The dividend will be paid Oct. 12 to shareholders on the register Aug. 24.

The announcement comes after the U.K. state-controlled lender finalized a $4.9 billion settlement with U.S. authorities to resolve claims of misselling U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities between 2005 and 2007.

CEO Ross McEwan said in an interview in May that the bank has to be "absolutely stable" in the long term before it can start paying out dividends. He said then that his objective is to get the bank back into private ownership and to focus on its customers.