Fortis must agree to sell off some of ABN Amro’s corporate banking activities if it and its partners want European Commission approval to take over the Dutch bank, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Friday.

The paper, which does not quote sources, says the European Commission fears there will be a lack of competition in the small and medium-sized sector unless Fortis sells off some units.
A merger between Fortis and ABN Amro in the Netherlands would just leave three dominate players in the market: ING, Rabobank and Fortis-ABN, the paper says.
Fortis is in a consortium with Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander to take over ABN Amro. Analysts expect its bid to beat that of Barclays, which is preferred by ABN Amro management.
The Commission has delayed its ruling on whether or not to approve a takeover by the consortium from September 19 to October 3.