The consortium said that it has purchased 40.76 million ABN Amro ordinary shares at an average price of E33.81 each. In addition, the trio revealed that it may purchase further shares within the limits of qualifying interest criteria determined by regulators.

Meanwhile, Barclays’s board of directors revealed that the bank had received a declaration of no objection (DNO) from the Netherlands Ministry of Finance, in conjunction with De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), over the proposed merger with ABN Amro.

As part of the DNO, Barclays will submit to the DNB a detailed integration and project organization plan relating to the merger with the Dutch lender, and will report to the DNB on its progress on a monthly basis. In addition, Barclays has agreed not to make any material changes to the organization set-up of the Dutch group until the DNB has assessed the aforementioned integration plan.

John Varley, CEO of Barclays, said: We welcome the response of the Ministry of Finance and DNB and appreciate their detailed consideration of our application over the last three months. The granting of the DNO is an important milestone in our proposed merger with ABN Amro.

The progress we have made in respect of regulatory and competition filings demonstrates the high degree of deliverability and certainty which the Barclays offer provides ABN Amro shareholders. The DNO instructions are in line with our existing plans and we anticipate no difficulty in complying with these requirements, Mr Varley concluded.