Royal Bank of Scotland today said its £12 billion rights issue was taken up by holders of 95.11% of the shares.

That leaves the investment banks UBS, Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs with almost 300 million shares, worth over £600 million, to try to sell on the market today. An announcement on how successful they had been was expected this afternoon.

RBS shares today dropped 1/2p to 245p as the underwriters attempted to get the entire rump of the issue away in one go.

The cash call was at 200p, and shareholders who did not take up their rights will receive a cheque for the difference between that and the price at which the underwriters managed to place the shares today.

Sources close to Royal Bank of Scotland said the mood in its Edinburgh headquarters was "good but not triumphalist". They added: "It was a big rights issue, and we got it away."

RBS needed the issue to fund its role in the £56 billion takeover of Dutch bank ABN Amro and to strengthen its balance sheet following £6 billion of subprime-related losses.

The bank is also hoping to raise another £7 billion through the sale of its insurance business, which includes Churchill and Direct Line. However, a number of key bidders have already dropped out the auction, and RBS may be forced to accept a price nearer to £5 billion, according to analysts.

It could raise another £1 billion by selling out its half share of the joint venture with Tesco personal finance.

RBS is due to update the stock market on first-half trading on Wednesday, but this is likely to be light on detail since it disclosed so much information for the rights issue. Rival HBOS, which is seeking £4 billion from its shareholders in the wake of the credit crunch, will take comfort from today's success.

While Bradford & Bingley was forced to slash the price of its share offering last week, HBOS will hope today's result indicates that institutional investors still have an appetite for big bank shares.