Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) shareholders have approved the bank’s proposed takeover of Dutch rival ABN Amro.
The approval for the deal comes at a time when banks are experiencing steep falls in the price of shares amid escalating worries about exposure to the sub-prime mortgage market.
This development had led some analysts to propose that market turbulence might stymie the takeover. However, a spokesman for RBS denied that ABN Amro had any significant exposure to the troubled US mortgage sector and remained viable.
“We believe ABN is a very responsibly run bank and we have no reason to believe they have any undue exposure,” says RBS chairman Tom McKillop.