Royal Bank of Scotland confirmed its clear win in the battle for NatWest Bank plc yesterday, declaring it had won acceptances from shareholders holding 60.05 per cent of NatWest's shares.

Royal Bank declared its £20 billion sterling (€32.52 billion) cash and shares takeover bid unconditional and extended the deadline for acceptances for two weeks to March 6th. It is expected to acquire outstanding shares in the coming weeks and may further extend the offer until it reaches the 90 per cent threshold where it can compulsorily acquire the remaining shares.

NatWest's fate was effectively decided on Friday when it said shareholders who had not already accepted Royal Bank's bid should do so. This advice came after NatWest's major institutional shareholders had deserted the London-based bank earlier in the week.

Royal Bank has said it plans to reduce NatWest's staff numbers by 18,000 to cut costs by a total of £1.18 billion, while boosting profits from increased revenues by £240 million.

Royal Bank intends to sell NatWest's fund management unit, Gartmore, but to keep both Ulster Bank and the main UK operations debt markets unit, Greenwich NatWest.