The Royal Bank of Scotland plans to imitate the speed and convenience of payday lending by offering consumers “loans within minutes” according to Les Matheson, head of personal and business banking at RBS, the Financial Times reported yesterday.

Matheson added that investing in technology will enable the bank to offer loans more quickly, as RBS recently unveiled a £1bn 3-year plan to enhance its online and mobile services.

Quickening processing times is becoming especially challenging in the wake of Bank of England regulation such as the Mortgage Market Review and the recent 4.5 loan to income cap, which will stand at 15% of money issued by lenders.

He told the Financial Times: “When you look at why people use payday lenders – because they are simple, easy and fast – in those senses banks need to do a better job.

“We should be able to find a way to make loans available as quickly – in minutes, rather than hours or days or weeks.”

Matheson, who has been with the bank since January 2010, was only made CEO of personal and business banking in February.

He reportedly added that customers are being hampered by regulation which is “moving in the other direction . . . by pushing to make things more complicated”.