Page 5 - RBS TG

A: ABN AMRO was an attractive bank with strong customer

franchises and good people. There were, however, issues

with its strategy and the way it was organised as a business.

The Consortium banks believed that these were issues

which were relatively easy to fix, but required some degree

of reorganisation. RBS, Fortis, and Santander chose to form

a Consortium to buy ABN AMRO because they recognised

that there were better owners for the different parts of the

ABN AMRO business than any single owner. The Consortium

banks believe that RBS, Fortis and Santander would create

better futures for the businesses and the people who

worked in them. Collectively, the three banks believed they

would be able to invest more in these businesses than any

single owner could.

Q: Will the Consortium banks be able to successfully

integrate ABN AMRO?

A: The Consortium banks would not have entered into this

transaction if they did not believe that they could