Three banks offer to securitise N.Rock loan: report

LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L), Barclays (BARC.L) and Citigroup (C.N) have offered to securitise half of the Bank of England's emergency loan to Northern Rock NRK.L, The Sunday Telegraph reported, without citing sources.

The three banks approached the Treasury in the past few days offering to securitise 12.5 billion pounds ($24.4 billion) of Northern Rock mortgage assets in the markets, the newspaper said.

The banks were not immediately available for comment.

The Sunday Express reported, without identifying its sources, that would-be buyer of Northern Rock, Richard Branson, was facing a setback to his plans, as investors Legal & General (LGEN.L) and Schroders (SDR.L) were backing the bank's "self rescue" plan.

(Reporting by Rachel Sanderson, editing by Will Waterman)