What pushed RBS over the brink was ABN—and not the deal's mediocre logic or crazy valuation, but rather the losses within the Dutch bank and the strain it put on funding ... Depending on which set of subsidiary accounts you use, in 2008 and the first half of 2009 ABN accounted for 75-144% of the combined group's operating losses and 47-50% of its loan impairments and gross writedowns from credit and trading activities ... Few people think ABN went berserk on risk during the takeover battle, but there is evidence it was slow to put the brakes on risky activities. For example, 79% of its super-senior CDO exposures at the end of 2007 seem to have been originated that year. Only 7% of RBS's were ... The purchase of ABN widened RBS's dependence on wholesale funding just as it was drying up. From about £230 billion of debt and interbank borrowing in mid-2007, RBS had £524 billion by the end of that year.