Article: Royal Bank plays down Halifax link

ROYAL Bank of Scotland yesterday described speculation of full merger talks with Halifax as "nonsensical" as it refused to respond to a Sunday newspaper report which claimed it was about to reject a GBP 30 billion merger with the Halifax.

A Royal Bank spokesman would not, however, repeat an outright denial issued last week by the bank when it dismissed speculation of a link up with Halifax as "garbage" and "completely untrue". A full denial, if interpreted by the Takeover Panel as a statement of intent, could rule Royal Bank out of talks for one year.

The Royal Bank spokesman said yesterday: "This report is pure market speculation and we do not respond to market speculation. Talks take place ...

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