The Royal Bank of Scotland, more than 80 per cent owned by the UK government, has revealed that its top five bankers were payed altogether around £20m, and 323 other "code staff" - staff considered critical to the running of the company - received an average of £1.1m each.

The figures were revealed under the new disclosures required by Project Merlin, which HSBC complied with last month, revealing that five of its top staff got between £2.1m and £2.7m last year.

Names of the staff do not have to be revealed under Project Merlin, neither does the pay of important workers who do not report to the chief executive.