After securing legal and financial backing claims worth more than £1bn against the Royal Bank of Scotland would be filed by small businesses alleging that the bailed-out bank drove them to the wall for its own profit.

It is understood that 50 claimants less than a month after its launch have been processed by the RGL Management that was formed to gather claims against RBS over the conduct of its now defunct Global Restructuring Group.

Humphries Kerstetter, which has previously acted for Tesco and WH Smith in a suit against credit card companies, has been secured to become the legal representative of the group. As the group prepares for a marketing push to sign up more firms, claims within RGL Management are expected to exceed £1bn.

“We believe this has the potential to be a huge claim. Single businesses within our group have losses of tens of millions of pounds and thousands of businesses suffered as a result of GRG’s actions. The rate at which we are being contacted by businesses suggests our claim will be very significant,” said James Hayward, its chief executive.

Even as City regulator the Financial Conduct Authority prepares to publish its report into the GRG unit, set up to help struggling businesses, legal action against RBS is gathering pace.

When a former government adviser, Lawrence Tomlinson, published a report arguing the RBS division drove clients to the brink so the bank could buy their properties and make a profit, the allegations about GRG gained publicity in 2013.  Within week, an FCA report on Tomlinson’s accusation is expected to be published.

Before a courtroom fight that was likely to be met by a fierce defence from RBS, the RGL Management said it was looking to swell the ranks of former GRG clients seeking redress.

“This is about making people realise that there is a vehicle through which they can claim. We are funded, we have lawyers ready, we’re investigating and processing data and if people think they have an issue they should come and talk to us,” said Hayward.

Fresh evidence from whistleblowers and through other investigative means would be sought by the RGL with the funds provided by professional litigation investors.

It would defend the claims said RBS, which is scheduled to publish its quarterly results this week.

“We believe we have a strong case and will defend these claims vigorously,” a spokesperson said.

RBS pushed his hotel business into bankruptcy, said Nigel Henderson, one claimant. Even with the £800,000 proceeds from a previous hotel sale, the bank would not let him pay off a mortgage on a hotel he owned, he claimed. GRG told him to pay £240,000 to extricate himself from the mortgage but would not then let him use the £800,000 to do so, Henderson says.

Henderson was left saddled with huge mortgage payments that meant he was unable to continue doing business due to the RBS’s alleged refusal to cooperate, he claims. Henderson is claiming for losses “in the millions” of pounds after Henderson claimed that the bank eventually petitioned for his bankruptcy.

“They took everything from us, including our house. We were evicted. What happened to us and thousands of other people is a travesty of justice and symptomatic of the greed displayed by the senior management of RBS, who had no interest in anything other than self-aggrandisement,” he said.

(Adapted from The Guardian)