The New Yorker hedgefund Paulson & Co., run by John Paulson, revealed that it had a 1.2% short position in Barclays, a 1.8% short position in Lloyds TSB and short positions of just under 1% in Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS.

The total value of these short positions is worth $1.9bn. New regulations in the UK force short sellers to disclose their positions.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) imposed a ban on short-selling financial stocks last Friday. Existing positions can be kept as long as they are properly disclosed.

Other countries also imposed bans on short selling financial stocks, as short sellers have been blamed for driving down share prices of financial institutions and for their subsequent woes.