A group set up to pursue Royal Bank of Scotland for actions related to its defunct Global Restructuring Group said today it is undeterred by the reports that an investigation into the bank’s conduct has found no evidence of wrongdoing.

Mark Humphries, senior partner at boutique litigation firm Humphries Kerstetter and representing claimant RGL Management Limited, told the Gazette that it would be pressing ahead with its claim regardless of the report’s outcome.

Today’s Financial Times says that a report ordered by the Financial Conduct Authority will find that there is no evidence that RBS’s Global Restructuring Group pushed small businesses into bankruptcy for its own profit. The paper cites ‘people who have seen the report’ as evidence.

Earlier, The Sunday Telegraph quoted the bank’s chief executive Ross McEwan as saying the restructuring group ‘did not always meet the standards it set itself’. However he added: ‘We’ve seen nothing, however, to support the allegations we artificially distressed SME customers for our own gain and are keen to work through this matter.’

The independent report, which was orginally due to be published last year, scrutinised a string of allegations about RBS’s now-defunct unit.

RGL is representing hundreds of claimants against the bank. Humphries told the Gazette earlier this month that that number could ‘stretch to thousands’.

Humphries’ comments came after the BBC and Buzzfeed reported on leaked documents which apparently supported allegations against the Global Restructuring Group.

The leaked documents allegedly showed that Derek Sach, the group’s global head, was running a division which claimed to help business customers turn themselves around while also sitting on a committee at RBS’s property arm West Register. West Register decided what customer assets to buy for the bank.

The FCA declined to comment but the Gazette understands the report should be published within weeks and it will then be up to the authority to decide whether to take further action.