Virgin Money and Santander are among five firms to have put in bids for the 318-strong Williams & Glyn's branch network owned by Royal Bank of Scotland, while Nick Ogden, founder of the WorldPay payment processing business, has submitted his offer to buy the unit back from RBS ahead of today's deadline.
RBS was ordered to sell the WorldPay and Williams & Glyn's units by the European competition authorities last year as a condition for joining the UK government's asset protection scheme.
According to the Financial Times, Santander, Virgin Money, National Australia Bank, BBVA and JC Flower all submitted bids for the branch network by last night's deadline.
Virgin Money's bid came as it sold a 21% stake to US billionaire investor Wilbur Ross for £100 million with the potential for another £500 million on the table.
According to a statement, the strategic investment "will provide new capital to allow Virgin Money to accelerate the expansion of its full-service retail bank and the creation of a branch network".
The indicative offers received for Williams & Glyn's are worth at least £1.5 billion. Santander is understood to be the front runner but, according to the FT, Virgin's bid could be boosted by a pledge not to cut any of the network's 6000 jobs.
Meanwhile, Finextra can confirm that WorldPay's founder Nick Ogden has made a formal offer ahead of today's deadline for the unit he sold to RBS in 2002.
However, Ogden could face stiff competition. Advent International reportedly made an informal offer last December and at the time, the Times newspaper, quoting unidentified 'City sources', reported that RBS has received more than 45 expressions of interest, valuing the business at up to £3 billion.