Financial advisers and lawyers estimate the total bill from the seven investment banks and four law firms advising ABN Amro and Barclays on their merger will hit €600m, reports the Volkskrant. ‘Banks start from 1% of the bid,’ Henk Schenk told the paper.

The offer for ABN Amro is set to be in the region of €60bn. Top lawyers charge around €1,350 an hour for their services, legal experts said.
Meanwhile ABN Amro chairman Rijkman Groenink has written to all staff urging them to concentrate on ‘our customers and our targets’ during a ‘period of uncertainty’.