Royal Bank of Scotland on Tuesday criticised the agreement it has been forced to make with regulators in Brussels as part of the three-way deal to insure the bank’s toxic assets.

Stephen Hester, chief executive of the state-owned bank, said demands from Neelie Kroes, European Union competition commissioner, to dispose of a range of insurance businesses and bank branches, came “rather late in the day” and threatened to derail the restructuring agreed with the UK government.