Bank: Eagle change, ABN Amro bid not tied

Poole,, England -- Barclays PLC denied removal of its spread-eagle trademark from its Poole, England, building had anything to do with its proposed takeover of a Dutch bank.

"The eagle is coming down purely because it is out-of-date branding," a spokesman said.
"We are still committed to the region and its removal is not linked to any deals that have been ongoing," he said.
Rumors circulated Barclays removed the 14-foot, 3.5-ton aluminum eagle -- which has been the bank's symbol since John Freame and Thomas Gould founded the Goldsmith Bank in London in 1690 -- to appease ABN Amro Holding NV, which Barclays wants to take over.

"It is rather a Teutonic-looking eagle and has unfortunate connotations," one Barclays insider told The Times of London.

One body of local opinion thought the eagle made the office too like a building in 1930s Berlin, the newspaper said.

The Dutch Finance Ministry last week cleared the final regulatory hurdle for the British bank's $86 billion proposed takeover of ABN Amro. The next step is for shareholders to vote on the offer Sept. 14.

A competing bid by a consortium of European banks led by Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC values ABN Amro at $95.8 billion, but has not yet received Dutch Finance Ministry clearance.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.