Hopes that crisis hit bank Northern Rock could survive as an independent group have strengthened after reports suggested that it had been offered a financial lifeline.
US banking giant Citi is understood to be prepared to lend the bank between £5 billion and £10 billion to help ease its funding crisis, according to Sunday newspapers.
The exact terms of the deal are still being worked out, but the funding would enable the troubled group to stop borrowing at the Bank of England's emergency rate, which is thought to be around 7%.
It would also put the UK's fifth biggest mortgage lender, which has thousands of Irish customers, on a more stable footing, and enable it to continue to operate as an independent group, thwarting the bidders that are currently circling it.
Despite previous attempts to stabilise the bank, it is understood that up until now no commercial lenders were prepared to deal with it.
Citigroup was originally called in to work alongside Merrill Lynch advising Northern Rock on a sale.