Two more bank chiefs were hauled before the Treasury Select Committee today as members of parliament continued their investigation of competition in the banking sector. But the treatment of Virgin Money’s Jayne-Anne Gadhia and Ana Patricia Botín of Santander UK could not have provided a starker contrast with last week's grilling of Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond.

The heads of the two retail banking firms were treated reverentially by MPs, with one even thanking Santander for providing a loan to a small business in his constituency which had been denied elsewhere.