20 November 2008.

At a general meeting today, Royal of Scotland shareholders voted 99.28% in favour of a £ 20 billion capital raising. The capital will comprise £ 15 billion in new ordinary shares underwritten by the government and £ 5 billion of preference shares to be purchased by the government leading to a potential 60% of the bank being under state ownership.

Prior to the vote the Royal Bank of Scotland Chairman, Sir Tom McKillop said 

"I expressed the considerable regret of the board at the time of both our rights issue in the spring and in October when this further capital raising was announced. This regret I hope is clear but I want to make it unequivocally to all of our shareholders and the many people who depend in some way on the success of our company.

I, as the chairman of RBS, both personally and in the office I hold, am profoundly sorry about the position we have reached. I feel this sincerely, on a number of levels and for a variety of reasons.

I am sorry about the very real financial and therefore human cost that those who have invested in us now feel and recognise how seriously this has impacted shareholder confidence in RBS," he said. "And I am also sorry if any of our customers have suffered anxiety as a result of the situation.

But I am also acutely aware - every day - of the fact that thousands of our employees, past and present, have believed so much in their company that they gave more than their labour to it. They bought shares, share-save options and Buy as You Earn, often from very modest incomes. They were proud of what RBS had achieved and were delighted to be associated with it.

The buck stops with me as chairman and with the leadership of the group. Accountability has been allocated and fully accepted. For my part, I will retire as chairman at the 2009 AGM when the new board structure is in place."