Joint statement re. ABN AMRO

Banco Santander Central Hispano SA
13 July 2007




13 July 2007 - Fortis, RBS and Santander Announcement

Following the ruling of the Supreme Court today regarding the sale of LaSalle by
ABN AMRO to Bank of America, RBS, Fortis and Santander (collectively 'the
Banks') announce that they intend to proceed with a revised offer for ABN AMRO.

This offer will be on materially superior terms to Barclays' proposed offer and
will not be conditional upon LaSalle remaining part of the ABN AMRO group. It
will be conditional, inter alia, on ABN AMRO not having made or agreed to make
any acquisitions or disposals of a material part of its business or assets, with
the exception of the disposal of LaSalle.

A further announcement will be made in due course.
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Important Information

This announcement is made pursuant to article 9b(1) of the Dutch Decree on the
Supervision of the Securities Trade 1995.

In connection with the proposed offer for ABN AMRO, RBS expects to file with the
U.S. SEC a Registration Statement on Form F-4, which will constitute a
prospectus, and the Banks expect to file with the SEC a Tender Offer Statement
on Schedule TO and other relevant materials. INVESTORS ARE URGED TO READ ANY
DOCUMENTS REGARDING THE PROPOSED OFFER IF AND WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE,
BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Investors will be able to
obtain a copy of such documents, without charge, at the SEC's website 
(http://www.sec.gov) once such documents are filed with the SEC. Copies of such
documents may also be obtained from each Bank, without charge, once they are
filed with the SEC.

This communication shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of
an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any
jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior
to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such
jurisdiction. This press release is not an offer of securities for sale into the
United States. No offering of securities shall be made in the United States
except pursuant to registration under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended,
or an exemption therefrom.


Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement includes certain 'forward-looking statements'. These
statements are based on the current expectations of the Banks and are naturally
subject to uncertainty and changes in certain circumstances. Forward-looking
statements include any statements related to the benefits or synergies resulting
from a transaction with ABN AMRO and, without limitation, statements typically
containing words such as 'intends', 'expects', 'anticipates', 'targets',
'plans', 'estimates' and words of similar import. By their nature,
forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to
events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. There are a
number of factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ
materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
These factors include, but are not limited to, the presence of a competitive
offer for ABN AMRO, satisfaction of any pre-conditions or conditions to the
proposed offer, including the receipt of required regulatory and anti-trust
approvals, the successful completion of the offer or any subsequent compulsory
acquisition procedure, the anticipated benefits of the proposed offer (including
anticipated synergies) not being realized, the separation and integration of ABN
AMRO and its assets among the Banks and the integration of such businesses and
assets by the Banks being materially delayed or more costly or difficult than
expected, as well as additional factors, such as changes in economic conditions,
changes in the regulatory environment, fluctuations in interest and exchange
rates, the outcome of litigation and government actions. Other unknown or
unpredictable factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those
in the forward-looking statements. None of the Banks undertake any obligation to
update publicly or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent legally required.

Any offer made in or into the United States will only be made by the Banks and/
or RFS Holdings directly or by a dealer-manager that is registered with the SEC.
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Fortis N.V., Archimedeslaan 6, 3584 BA Utrecht, Netherlands; Fortis SA/NV, Rue
Royale 20, 1000 Brussels, Belgium


The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, Head Office, Gogarburn, Edinburgh EH12
1HQ, UK. Registered Office, 36 St Andrew Square, Edinburgh EH2 2YB. Registered
in Scotland No 45551


Banco Santander, S.A., Ciudad Grupo Santander, Avenida de Cantabria, s/n, 28660
Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, Spain






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