George Osborne: Accusations that Royal Bank of Scotland is deliberately 'killing off' small firms are 'shocking' The report alleges that firms not necessarily in immediate financial distress are "engineered" into the global restructuring group, sometimes through small technical breaches of loan terms, such as late filing of minor financial information. Mr Osborne said that the Government was "actively trying to seek out" problems in banking sector and could not "brush them under the carpet. They are then hit with high rates and fees, which can cause them to collapse, allowing RBS to buy their property and assets on the cheap for the benefit of its West Register property arm, it is alleged. Mr Osborne said: "We're trying to make sure the banks are working for small businesses, the banks are working for hardworking families. We're, of course investigating now the findings of this report but generally what I've been trying to do is make sure RBS, which is fingered in this report, is working for the families of this country. It's not a big global bank, it hasn't got a huge investment banking arm in the City, it's working for families, helping them get the loans they need. He added: "You've got to get in there and fix it and that's what this government is doing." As well as the allegations of businesses being put under the control of GRG for spurious reasons, Mr Tomlinson's report claims that "very few" companies are ever actually turned around by its staff and that most end up stranded there, or enter into bankruptcy. Vince Cable told BBC news that Mr Tomlinson's report showed a "systematic pattern" going back to 2009 where "good companies which weren't bringing enough fee income to the bank were being brought down deliberately." He added that these practices were not going on today and relates "primarily to the past." He said: "It was a very serious accusation, immediately I heard about what was going on and spoke to him about it I referred it to the regulator, it's gone to the bank itself, somebody called Sir Andrew Large is conducting an internal investigation into the conduct of the bank."