Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has until Sunday, May 27 to make a bid or walk away from ABN Amro, the Dutch bank already under offer from Barclays.

Holland's public offer rules state that a company which has made an offer or indicated an interest in buying a business has to clarify its position to the Dutch market within four weeks of making the initial announcement.

RBS, along with its partners Santander of Spain and Belgium-based Fortis, will have to disclose whether they are willing to go ahead with a €72 billion (£49.2 billion) offer for ABN or decide against making a bid. Alternatively, the three banks could choose to issue a holding statement that would give them more time to make a decision.

Barclays, which has already agreed a €66 billion deal with the board of ABN Amro, will make a statement to the Dutch market next Wednesday, May 23 when it is expected to reiterate its offer. RBS will follow with its own announcement four days later.

It also emerged today that the RBS-led consortium may have approached Bank of America directly to break the deadlock over ABN's sale of its US bank, LaSalle, which was agreed as part of the Barclays transaction.

Bank of America has offered €21 billion for LaSalle while RBS has indicated it will pay €24.5 billion for the US company.

The sale of LaSalle to Bank of America was frozen by a Dutch court on May 3, after shareholders argued the deal should have been put to a vote.

Reports claim talks between RBS and Bank of America could result in the US group selling off areas of LaSalle to the consortium. Another scenario could result in RBS and Bank of America buying LaSalle assets directly from ABN Amro.

ABN and Bank of America have since filed an appeal against the decision to freeze the sale of LaSalle which will further delaying a resolution.

The parties involved in the deal will have to file their pleadings to the Dutch Supreme Court by the beginning of June, and after an estimated two weeks gestation period, the advocate general will give advice on the what the Supreme Court intends to do before an official decision is released.

It is now expected that an Extraordinary General Meeting at which shareholders will vote on the sale of LaSalle, if the Supreme Court does not uphold the appeal, will take place at the end of June.

Times Recommends

• Minister in talks with Saudis to protect creditors
• Premier Inn hits back in £29-a-room row
• Bankers hit back at 'populist' bonus supertax