Under the rules of the scheme, approved by the Treasury Department, information disclosed within the group of banks could not be turned over to the FBI or police.

BBC: Web attacks 'not electronic Pearl Harbor'

The rules of the RBS pension scheme are outlined in the bank's annual report for 2007.

BBC: Goodwin's pension hits ?703,000

Meanwhile, the rules of the government's dispersal scheme have recently been tightened: if asylum seekers refuse to be relocated to a place of the government's choosing (as some do), they now risk losing benefits at once.

ECONOMIST: Time for some honesty on asylum