ABN Amro sale needs consortium backing

The sale of ABN Amro Nederland by Fortis depends not only upon the approval of the Dutch central bank and the European Commission but also Fortis’ consortium partners, finance minister Wouter Bos told parliament on Thursday.

Spain’s Banco Santander and the Royal Bank of Scotland were part of the three-bank group which bought ABN Amro last year for over €70bn.
Fortis, which took over ABN Amro’s Dutch activities when the group was carved up, is now to sell ABN Amro Nederland. The measure is one of several to shore up its share price.