Metro Bank has received a takeover approach from US private equity firm Carlyle.
The move comes after the Co-operative Bank, owned by a group of hedge funds, made an approach for TSB.
Metro, which made a £110m loss in the first half of the year, has 2.4m customers and £16.4bn in deposits. It was created in 2010 by Vernon Hill in the aftermath of the financial crisis, becoming the first new bank in Britain in 100 years.
Last year, Metro sold £3bn of mortgages – roughly 20% of its loan book – to NatWest to release capital that it could deploy into higher-margin lending, and bought Ratesetter’s platform to generate loan growth.
Despite plans to open 200 branches, to date it has just 77.
