RBS and HBOS received £61bn in support

In a submission to the Treasury Select Committee on the BoE's inflation report, Mervyn King, Governor of the BoE, said the use of the emergency facilities peaked at £36.6bn for RBS, on 17 October 2008.

For HBOS, it peaked at £25.4bn on 13 December 2008. RBS repaid the cash by 16 December 2008 and HBOS by 16 January 2009.

He said the loans were made to prevent a loss of confidence spreading through the financial system as whole.

John McFall MP, chairman of the Committee, said: "My colleagues when we received this note there was a little bit of intake of breath thinking how many universities, how many colleges, how many jobs could you support with this."