The Royal Bank of Scotland-led consortium seeking to break up ABN Amro cleared a hurdle on Monday when shareholders in Fortis, its smallest member, backed its bid for the Dutch lender.

Fortis investors approved the Belgo-Dutch bank’s crucial €13bn ($17.9bn) rights issue to part-fund its share of the €71.1bn bid. The support was given by overwhelming majorities at extraordinary meetings in Brussels, in Belgium, and Utrecht, in the Netherlands.