If weekend talk of a £3bn to £4bn ($4.9bn-$6.5bn) rights issue by Royal Bank of Scotland was a kite-flying exercise, the wind was certainly not blowing on Monday. The UK bank’s shares tumbled 5.2 per cent to 53.4p, as investors apparently took fright at the idea of a cash call.

One person close to the bank conceded that the share price fall was “not necessarily a ringing endorsement of the idea”.