LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland chairman Sir Tom McKillop told investors he was "profoundly sorry" for the crisis which left it needing a £20 billion ($30 billion) government rescue package.

"I, as the chairman of RBS Group, both personally and in the office I hold, am profoundly sorry about the position we have reached," McKillop said at an extraordinary shareholders' meeting in Edinburgh yesterday.

RBS last month signed up to an emergency bailout package under which it looks set to receive £20 billion of public money, with the government taking a stake of up to 57 percent in the bank in return.

The move came after RBS was hit by billions of pounds in losses on debt-backed assets. The acquisition of parts of Dutch rival ABN Amro last year, when the value of financial assets was at a peak, put further pressure on RBS' capital.

McKillop yesterday acknowledged that the ABN Amro deal had exacerbated RBS' problems.

"With the benefit of the knowledge we no have, it is clear that the timing of this acquisition has added to our difficulties," he said, adding that RBS would have had to raise extra capital even without the ABN deal.