Banking unions have launched a last ditch offensive to stop ABN Amro being taken over either by Britain’s Barclays or a consortium of three other banks, the Financieele Dagblad reports.

The paper says the unions want ABN Amro management to include the option of remaining independent on the agenda for this month’s annual general meeting of shareholders.
ABN Amro bank said earlier it did not see independence as a way forward because of a lack of future perspectives.
‘(Chairman Rijkman) Groenink is the last person to support the independence option because he wants to cash in,’ Jacques Teuwen, chairman of De Unie, told the paper. Some 55% of ABN Amro staff want the bank to remain independent, according to a recent union poll.