According to the FSB, the UK's four main business banks - Barclays, Lloyds TSB, the Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC - have failed to offer accounts with rates of at least 2.5% below the base rate to over half of small businesses.

An FSB spokesman said:

"We are utterly bewildered by the Competition Commission’s provisional decision in this case. It flies in the face of all the evidence we have given and completely contradicts the experience of thousands of our members.

“Despite their promises to the contrary, there has been a worrying lack of transparency from the banks about the services they offer to small businesses."