Banking reform campaigners accused George Osborne of "spoonfeeding" yesterday over claims RBS will solve its woes by "putting the bad loans in a bad bank."

The bailed-out banking giant trumpeted plans to consolidate its toxic assets with an internal restructure in a bid to "reward the faith of UK taxpayers," just a day after the company confirmed it had suspended two traders in relation to an international investigation into rigged currency exchange rates.

It is alleged traders at a number of banks used instant messaging software to ask colleagues charged with filing daily reports to falsify their data - a setup similar to the Libor-fixing scandal exposed last year.