Northern Rock is set to ask for £3bn more

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But sources close to the nationalised bank played down stories from Westminster that the good bank could be sold to Tesco as early as this autumn.

Splitting the bank in two has to be approved by the European Commission and that is unlikely to happen until September at the earliest. Until then any potential purchaser would have little clear idea what they might be buying.

Tesco, which has been growing its financial services arm, would not be the only bidder for the so-called good bank. Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Money, which originally looked at a Northern Rock bail-out in 2007, would also be keen. Rock technically breached Financial Services Authority rules today on the amount of capital it needs to hold as losses mounted this year. But it has been given clearance by the regulator to carry on as normal until the split takes place.