Commercial capital provided to the Big Society Bank by four high-street banks will be prioritised over money accessed from unclaimed assets in the event of the Big Society Bank going into liquidation.

The provision is included in the Big Society Bank proposal, which government has accepted, from Nick O’Donohoe, former global head of research at JP Morgan, and Sir Ronald Cohen, former chair of the social investment taskforce.

Although, the report notes that the terms of the £200m from the ‘Merlin banks’ (Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and RBS) are yet to be finalised, it says that Merlin banks’ capital should be “senior” to the unclaimed assets in the event of liquidation.

The Big Society Bank is set to get around £100m this year from unclaimed assets.

Last week, Sir Sandy Crombie, a non-executive director for the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Group, was forced to defend the plans by four high-street banks to give the Big Society Bank £200m on commercial terms, after MPs criticised it as “mean and churlish” compared to what taxpayers paid to bail out the banks in 2009.