The bank has revealed that, over the course of 2012, it lent £9.2bn to borrowers in London and the South East, compared to £9.6bn to those in the rest of the country. Just over half of lending to first-time buyers was directed at those in London and South East.

There was also a North-South divide in the size of loan – at £157,859, the average loan per borrower in London and the South East was nearly twice that of the rest of the UK.

An HSBC spokeswoman said the bank understood the public interest in lending figures for SMEs, personal loans and mortgages if the disclosed figures were meaningful and useful: “We are already working with the BBA to provide, on a consistent basis among the industry, SME lending data.

“In principle, we see no reason why that work could not be extended to personal loans and mortgages. As an interim step, we will publish HSBC’s regional lending data on our website.”

Last month, MPs urged the heads of the major high street banks to disclose mortgage as well as SME lending postcode-by-postcode.

In a letter to RBS chief executive Stephen Hester  ministers argued there was merit in broadening disclosure to covering other forms of credit, including mortgages and personal unsecured lending.