Royal Bank of Scotland is prepared to give up its pursuit of LaSalle Bank, the North American unit that has become a major sticking point in the ABN Amro takeover battle, depending on the outcome of legal proceedings.

RBS, and its consortium partners Fortis Bank and Banco Santander, today provided details of their long-awaited rival proposal to Barclays' agreed takeover of ABN Amro. The consortium partners said their offer is conditional on a Dutch judge upholding an earlier ruling forcing ABN Amro to put the planned disposal of LaSalle to Bank of America to a shareholder vote, and on that vote failing to back the Bank of America deal.