NATWEST and the Royal Bank of Scotland became the latest financial institutions yesterday to be lightly slapped by regulators who doled out a total £14.5 million in fines for dodgy mortgage advice.

They escaped the full £20.6m punishment because they “settled early.”

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) officials ticked off the firms for failing to shake up procedures at branches and call centres following a 2011 warning.

The banks — part of the same group — were handed the fines after a 2012 probe showed that only two out of 164 sales that FCA officials looked at met proper standards.

FCA enforcement and financial crime director Tracey McDermott said: “Where we raise concerns with firms we expect them to take effective action to resolve them without delay.

“This simply failed to happen in this case.”

However despite acknowledging that “poor advice could cost someone their home,” her organisation still slashed the fine by 30 per cent.

Both banks have now agreed to contact 30,000 mortgage customers to allow them to raise possible concerns.