LONDON (AP) — Royal Bank of Scotland has set aside 400 million pounds ($497 million) to compensate small and medium-size businesses that say they were mistreated by the lender after the 2008 financial crisis.

RBS says it will set up an independent process to review complaints from businesses that believe they were mistreated and that it will automatically refund "complex fees."

CEO Ross McEwan said Tuesday that RBS believes "now is the right time to deal with the areas where we accept some customers were let down in the past."

RBS's Global Restructuring Group has been accused of squeezing distressed businesses then buying their assets cheaply. While the Financial Conduct Authority says there were cases of inappropriate treatment and misleading communication, RBS didn't "artificially engineer" transfers of client business to the restructuring unit.