Royal Bank of Scotland and the government, which holds 70 per cent of the bank’s shares, will be targeted by protests this week from Canadian aboriginal groups aiming to stop RBS lending to companies that invest in oil sands extraction in western Canada.

A meeting in Parliament on Tuesday with representatives of the First Nations, as the native Canadians are known, will highlight calculations by campaigners that since the start of 2007, RBS has extended $13.9bn (£8.3bn) in loan guarantees or debt and equity underwriting to companies linked to oil sands.