RBS and HSBC - one for Peston?

Two banks that have been - in relative terms - out of the headlines in recent days with the turmoil surrounding HBoS and Lloyds-TSB and the collapse of Bradford and Bingley. But perhaps the shock announcement on Friday that the Bank of England was dramatically increasing the scale of its three-month lending to British banks by offering cash against a wider range of collateral was actually the result of another storm brewing in the UK financial markets.

RBS is in big trouble - it paid way over the odds (and using too much cash) for ABN-Amro and has suffered a nasty bout of the winners’ curse. The share price traded on the Dutch stock exchange is barely a third of the market value towards the end of 2007 and the bank has moved sharply away from profit to a stunning loss due to bad debts.

Is HSBC being lined up by the UK Treasury as a White Knight to rescue RBS? One for Robert Peston to investigate in search of another scoop.