The Daily Telegraph has said it "makes no apology" for its coverage of allegations that banking giant HSBC promoted tax avoidance schemes.

The newspaper said it had reported the matter according to its “editorial judgement and informed by our values”.

Friday's editorial comes after the paper's ex-chief political commentator Peter Oborne accused his former employer of downplaying stories about HSBC because it is a major advertiser.

The Telegraph rejected the allegations, and today referred to its coverage three years ago of an HM Revenue and Customs investigation into the bank over offshore accounts in Jersey for criminals resident in Britain.

The editorial said: “Our support for Britain’s financial services has never blinded us to the failings of the industry.”

Of the current allegations against the bank, it said many of them are a decade old and have been reported before, and accused some media organisations of having “seized (on them) with almost indecent glee”.

The paper has now pledged to produce guidelines “that will define clearly and openly how our editorial and commercial staff will co-operate in an increasingly competitive media industry, particularly in digital publishing, an area whose journalistic and commercial importance can only grow”.

It said its regard is for its readers, rather than the opinions of rival media organisations.

PA