The banking consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is to bring out a hostile bid for ABN Amro, the Dutch bank was formally told on Friday.

Earlier this week, the consortium (RBS, Santander and Fortis) brought out a preliminary €72bn offer for the biggest Dutch bank, some €5bn higher than the bid made by Barclays on Monday. ABN Amro management have backed the Barclay’s bid.
Meanwhile, at its AGM yesterday, ABN Amro shareholders voted in favour of splitting up the ABN Amro group and selling off its parts – as proposed by hedge fund TCI. The RBS consortium plans to do just that.
ABN Amro chairman Rijkman Groenink told the meeting that the bank did not have to ask shareholder permission for its proposed merger with Barclays.