FSA investigating RBS acquisition

Bank regulators in Britain are investigating the Royal Bank of Scotland’s purchase of ABN Amro, a footnote on the bank’s half-year earnings report said.

In April 2009, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) notified the group that it was commencing a supervisory review of the acquisition of ABN Amro “¦ and the 2008 capital raisings, the footnote said, The Times of London reported Monday.

RBS said it was cooperating fully with this review.

RBS, Santander and Fortis outbid Barclays for ABN, paying $97.8 billion in October 2007. But six months later RBS announced a $19.5 billion rights issue to raise capital, The Times reported.