The Royal Bank of Scotland has abandoned its consortium bid for ABN Amro and will mount a solo attempt to acquire the Dutch bank, the Sunday Times reports.

The bank had planned a joint bid with Santander and Fortis, but the paper says that is now seen as too complicated.
Preliminary talks between the three had been scheduled for Monday, following the expiry of ABN Amro’s exclusivity deal with Barclays. The Sunday Times says now Fred Goodwin, RBS’s chief executive, will hold talks with ABN Amro’s board tomorrow and will provide it with ‘full details’ about how his offer will be structured.
Santander and Fortis will still support the bid as silent financial backers and will buy ABN Amro’s Latin American, Italian and Benelux operations if RSB is successful, the paper says.
The paper says RBS will take charge of all negotiations with regulators, including with the Dutch central bank which had criticised the consortium offer for being complicated and risky.