Its comments were aimed especially at Royal Bank of Scotland plc, the other Scottish Bank, which has hired advisers to consider a counter bid for NatWest, the UK's fourth-largest bank by market capitalization. Earlier Wednesday, Britain's Takeover Panel turned down an appeal by Bank of Scotland aimed at forcing Royal Bank of Scotland to either bid for NatWest or pull out of the race. In its ruling, however, the panel did say that Royal Bank of Scotland should "clarify" its intentions within 50 days of the posting of the original offer by its Scottish rival.

Bank of Scotland announced its bid in late September, offering shares and loan-notes that value its target at around 13.35 pounds ($21.98 or 20.89 euros) a share, or a total of 22.27 billion pounds, at current market prices. But it sent its offer document to NatWest shareholders only on October 27, meaning Royal Bank of Scotland has until December 3 to reveal its intentions.

In its appeal to the Takeover Panel, Bank of Scotland argued that Royal Bank of Scotland had created market uncertainty and won an unfair advantage by "testing the water" but not committing itself to making a bid. The panel disagreed, ruling only that NatWest shareholders be given enough time to consider their options before Bank of Scotland's bid closes on December 13. The ruling effectively gives Royal Bank of Scotland the ability to analyse the market's reaction to the existing bid and NatWest's defense against it. For that reason, analysts say it is unlikely that Royal Bank of Scotland will act quickly even if it intends to make a counter offer. Mortgage bank Abbey National plc is considered the other most likely candidate to make a rival bid, having appointed Warburg Dillon Read and Lehman Brothers as its advisers.

Shares in Bank of Scotland closed 23 pence higher at 14.21 pounds, while Bank of Scotland shares edged 4.5 pence lower to 759.5 pence, having posted strong gains in recent days.