City watchdog slammed for refusing to reveal full report on toxic RBS team

CAMPAIGNERS have blasted the City watchdog for refusing to release a full report on a toxic business rescue unit at Royal Bank of Scotland.

RBS’s global restructuring group was meant to save firms from collapse during the financial crisis.

But critics claim the NatWest owner instead sought to deliberately wreck small businesses and seize their assets to bolster its own ailing balance sheet.

The lender was bailed out with £46billion of taxpayers’ money in 008.

The Financial Conduct Authority commissioned a detailed report into the claims which found a series of errors and conflicts at the unit, but dismissed suggestions of a conspiracy. Although a summary of these findings has been made public, the FCA is refusing to share an uncensored version which reveals if senior management was to blame.

It means the thousands of business owners whose companies went bust are still waiting to discover who knew what, and when. Nikki Turner, from business support group SME Alliance, which was set up to help firms in difficulties, said the report was bound to make it into the public domain eventually.

She added that many business owners now believe the watchdog is in hock with big banks. Mrs Turner said: ‘It’s a pointless exercise by the FCA not to put this out. It’s a case of tail wagging dog most of the time, with the banks in charge of the process.’

Internal board minutes from the FCA showed the watchdog feared it could face legal action from senior managers if the full report was released.

The report detailed findings by consultant Promontory Financial Group, which was asked by the regulator to probe what happened at RBS.

It began its investigation in 014 and finished it earlier this year. Suspicion of a cover-up was so great MPs on the Treasury Select Committee hired an independent barrister to check that the public summary released last week was a fair reflection of the secret report.

The barrister concluded the public version was not misleading – but that key details about what bosses knew have been left out. The FCA has said it is not able to release the full report because of commercial confidentiality, and because it would have to give every manager implicated a full legal right of reply – an expensive and lengthy process.

RBS declined to comment.