The embattled chief executive of Dutch bank ABN Amro Rijkman Groenink told Dutch RTL television Wednesday he would not succumb to pressure to resign.
ABN is the target of a proposed 72 billion euro ($97 billion) bid by a consortium of banks led by Royal Bank of Scotland, which are trying to beat an agreed $88 billion takeover offer by Barclays.
A Dutch court froze ABN's related $21 billion deal to sell its U.S. subsidiary LaSalle to Bank of America landing the bank in a legal mess.
Asked about the court ruling and the pressure to resign Groenink said: "It is not keeping me awake at night. ...I am just doing my job."
He also said he was not under internal pressure to resign.
"I can categorically rule that out," Groenink said.
Shareholders revolted over ABN's plans to sell LaSalle, saying the deal acted as a poison pill preventing rival bids for ABN since it did not include the whole bank.
RBS, Belgian-Dutch group Fortis and Spain's Santander are willing to pay more for ABN, but their proposal would break up ABN's global retail and wholesale banking operations.
After a Dutch court ruled on May 3 to halt the LaSalle sale, shareholder group VEB, which brought the lawsuit, called for Groenink's resignation.
Hedge fund TCI, which triggered the takeover battle over ABN by calling on the bank in February to split up or sell itself, has also called for Groenink's resignation.
But ABN, which issued a statement earlier on Monday morning outlining its discussions with the consortium, has said that a "a change in management has not been considered."
Asked about the battle for ABN, Groenink said: "It may be that we recommend one bid over another, but we will not do anything to stand in the way of a party wanting to make a bid," he said.