KEY POINTS:
Three banks led by Royal Bank of Scotland threatened to launch a hostile bid for ABN Amro in a sign of their growing resolve to elbow aside rival Barclays to secure the world's biggest banking takeover.
In response, ABN lifted a contentious "standstill" condition attached to opening its books to the group, saying it was "committed to exploring the consortium's proposal in a constructive manner."
Meanwhile, Dutch shareholder rights group VEB filed a suit attempting to prevent ABN Amro from selling its US arm, LaSalle Bank to Bank of America for US$21 ($28.3) billion.
