Abbey battle moves up a gear - papers 24 August

HBOS has written to the European Commission requesting an investigation into the Spanish bank on the issue of its cross-holding agreement with Royal Bank of Scotland, a major competitor in the UK market. The agreement means each company has an equity stake in the other, but also that the respective chairmen have a seat on each other’s boards. HBOS wants the EC to cut the board ties at the very least, if not rule the cross-holding of equity in each business to be against competition rules if BS succeeds in its bid for Abbey. The Scotsman says a key concern of continued shared intere...