Virgin Money and Clydesdale Bank are expected to be among the bidders for the troubled Co-operative Bank which has put itself up for sale.

A number of private equity companies are also thought likely to meet this week’s deadline for initial offers.

The Co-operative group is expected to write down the value of its 20% stake in the loss-making Co-op bank to zero when it unveils figures this week.

It is understood that whoever takes on the bank will have to inject £750 million to shore up its balance sheet.

Edinburgh and Newcastle based Virgin is thought to be interested in the Co-op’s 1.4 million current account customers after admitting that it was  difficult to achieve sufficient volume and profit to justify full-scale entry into the personal current account market.

Clydesdale had been in negotiations with RBS over the Williams & Glyn assets.