Virgin Money CEO says eyeing UK banking assets

* Gadhia says 'still looking' to buy assets

* Says to IPO in about five years (Adds detail)

LONDON Feb 25 (Reuters) - Virgin Money is "still interested, still looking" to buy up banking assets in Britain, chief executive Jayne-Anne Gadhia said on Thursday.

The group is looking to IPO in about five years time, Gadia said at a conference.

The consumer credit arm of Richard Branson's Virgin is frequently named as a potential suitor for a slice of the billions of pounds in British banking assets, set to be sold over the coming months and years, including making another approach for failed mortgage lender Northern Rock. [ID:nLDE607090]

"Any acquisition we might make, we will test against our organic growth plan. We have a five-year plan to get to a significant number of branches and we would hope to IPO at that time," said Gadhia.

Virgin Money entered Britain's retail banking market earlier this year after agreeing to buy a small provincial bank, Church House Trust, in a 50 million pounds ($77 million) deal. [ID:nLDE607090]

It had applied for a banking licence in October. [ID:nLN403567] (Reporting by Myles Neligan; Writing by Lorraine Turner) ($1 = 0.6521 pound)