'Bankruptcy King' keen to buy Northern Rock with Branson

Ross's comments coincided with Branson's Virgin Money acquiring a UK banking licence after buying the small provincial UK bank Church House Trust.

Speaking in America, Ross said it was still early stages, but he was "quite possibly" interested in teaming up with Virgin Money in a swoop for Northern Rock.

The latter has recently been split into a "good" bank including Northern's deposits business and best mortgage assets, widely expected to be bought or floated on the stock market at some stage, and a 'bad' bank with Northern's more risky mortgage business.

Ross said: "I like the Virgin Money model. It's one of the most respected names in the UK in financial services. They just recently got permission to buy a banking licence – they actually bought a little tiny bank. They are now in the banking business, or will be shortly, in the UK. So that's a useful step towards doing something substantial."

Ross was part of a consortium led by Virgin that tried to take over Northern Rock in 2008 before it was later nationalised. However, it is thought no recent talks have taken place, or are planned, between Ross and Virgin.

Northern's downfall in the autumn of 2007, when queues stretched round the block to withdraw deposits, followed the freezing up of the wholesale money markets on which its business model depended. Ross is chairman and chief executive of private equity and turnaround firm WL Ross & Co. He said the firm's latest fund was 60 per cent invested, and he expected it to be fully invested long before the end of the year.

A spokesman for Virgin Money would not comment specifically on Ross. But the spokesman said: "When the Church acquisition goes through and we have our banking licence we will take a look at all opportunities to expand, not just Northern Rock. Private equity companies might be interested and we are happy to talk."

It is thought Virgin is also keeping a close watch on other UK banking assets that have to be sold under European Union rulings in return for state aid. These include Lloyds Banking Group's Cheltenham & Gloucester and Intelligent Finance brands, and Royal Bank of Scotland's old Williams & Glynn retail network.

Ross is one of the best-known turnaround financiers in the US, having been involved in the restructuring of over $200billion (123bn) of defaulted companies' assets around the world. In 1998, Fortune Magazine called him "the King of Bankruptcy".

Virgin Money, which recently announced plans to hire another 30 people to double the number of its employees at its Edinburgh HQ, spent 12.3million to acquire Church House Trust, a west of England private bank founded in 1972 by a family of solicitors.