UNITED KINGDOM (REUTERS) - The Royal Bank of Scotland's chief executive officer Ross McEwan has been accused of withholding information in January, when he gave evidence to the Treasury Committee on allegations of malpractice at the bank's restructuring unit after the financial crisis.

Its chair, Mr Nicky Morgan, said that when Mr McEwan was asked whether there had been any criminal activity at the bank, he failed to disclose that one former employee was under investigation by police, despite the bank being aware of this since 2017.

The Committee is an influential group of lawmakers - with a reputation for taking top bank chiefs to task.

Global financial economist of Commerzbank, Mr Peter Dixon, said: "I'm sure that over time there will be more things that come out of the cupboard, which are deemed to have been in the public interest and it would have been nice to see them earlier on, but there's also a sense that banks are an easy target. These guys have to stand in front of Parliament and justify their actions."

Mr McEwan says he replied to the questions in good faith, and that the police investigation into the employee related to a later period, so he did not consider it relevant to the Committee's inquiry.

Britain's Financial Conduct Authority investigated the unit for the period from 2008 to 2013 and found many aspects of its practices were "deficient".