Top executives at some of the UK’s biggest banks earned more than £70m (€88m) in salary and bonuses between them last year, but they and other senior staff face the potential threat of future compensation being curtailed if their banks tap the Government’s rescue fund.

The eight UK financial institutions that the UK Treasury yesterday said have confirmed they will participate in the recapitalisation scheme are: Abbey; Barclays; HBOS; HSBC; Lloyds TSB; Nationwide, Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered.