“The bank over-extended itself and got caught up in a bull market culture.” He commented. “It’s true that the amount of financial leverage that we have needs to be reduced."

The feeling that RBS extended itself too much in its acquisition strategy was one of the main reasons for the £20 billion rescue injection from the Government and the departure of former golden boy Sir Fred Goodwin.

Stephen Hester as former boss of property firm British Land has been given a £1.2 million salary, shares worth £6.7 million and £10.4 million of RBS shares to buy him out of British Land schemes.

Outgoing chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin will stay in his role until January to ensure the changing of position goes smoothly. This is thought to be earning him £325,000.

In a controversial move, Mr Hester claimed that bonuses for staff not on the board would continue to be paid, despite public debate over reward policies for banks being part-nationalised.

"We have 170,000 staff many of whom have done an outstanding job for us and need to be incentivised," said the new boss.

Mr Hester has stated that he will be clearer on any job cuts that need to be made when RBS reports its annual results in February.