Bank of Scotland today restructured its bid for National Westminister Bank, reports the Financial Times.

This has cleared the decks for a final showdown with rival bidder Royal Bank of Scotland on Monday. With BoS shares rising 17.5p to 678p, its new bid values NatWest at £24.8bn - £2.7bn above RBS's bid and £3.4bn ahead of NatWest's own market value. But bankers and analysts said they expected both Scottish banks to raise their bids again on Monday, the last day on which the Takeover Code allows them to alter their offers.