The ruling comes in the wake of dozens of complaints that the bank’s posters appeared on high streets and bus stops in the lead up to the COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow last October.

The adverts, which highlight how the bank has invested $1 trillion into climate-friendly initiatives including planting trees and helping clients meet their green goals, failed to account for HSBC’s own contribution to emissions.

“Despite the initiatives highlighted in the ads … HSBC was continuing to significantly finance investments in businesses and industries that emitted notable levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses. We did not consider consumers would know that was the case,” the ASA said.

“We concluded that the ads omitted material information and were therefore misleading.”

HSBC said: “The financial sector has a responsibility to communicate its role in the low carbon transition to raise public awareness and engage its customers, so we will consider how best to do this as we deliver our ambitious net zero commitments.”

Earlier this week, HSBC ran global workshops for staff on how to spot greenwashing – the practice of implying that you are behaving in an environmentally responsible manner when in fact you are not.