The new head of the Royal Bank of Scotland says buying ABN Amro in 2007 was a "big mistake".

In an interview with German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, Stephen Hester says that under his predecessor, Fred Goodwin, RBS lacked a coherent strategy and simply bought anything it could.

Buying ABN Amro, together with Fortis and Banco Santander, was wrong both from a financial and a strategic perspective, according to Mr Hester. RBS took over ABN Amro's financial activities three years ago.

When the financial crisis struck, shortly after it had bought ABN Amro, RBS proved so weak it had to be rescued by the British government. RBS is still largely under government control.

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