Barclays’ shareholders have overwhelmingly approved the bank’s offer for rival ABN Amro, giving the UK bank the green light for the share issue needed to buy the Dutch bank.

John Varley, Barclays’ chief executive, acknowledged the consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland was in pole position to win the battle for ABN, but maintained that “the outcome is far from certain”. The consortium’s offer for the Dutch bank of about €38 a share or €71bn ($98.4bn), is €5.50 a share higher than Barclays’ part cash, part share offer.