Newly independent Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank (CYBG) might quickly become involved in consolidation deals in the banking sector.

“Like others out there, we would be viewed as a consolidation candidate,” CYBG chief executive David Duffy told Bloomberg News in an interview.

The demerger of Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank from former parent National Australia Bank is now complete and CYBG is trading on the stock market as an independent company with a market value of more than £1.6 billion.

Duffy told Bloomberg that CYBG might consider joining the potential bidders for the Williams & Glyn branch network put up for sale by Royal Bank of Scotland.

“There has been a request for us to participate in a review of what proposals they have for their Williams & Glyn structure,” said Duffy.

“We’ll look at it in a purely agnostic context to understand what it is. Only after we understand what that particular bank is would we ever consider whether we’re going to proceed.”

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) said in December it has received “a number of informal approaches” for its Williams & Glyn branch network.

RBS said then that while it will continued preparations for an initial public offering (IPO) of Williams & Glyn, it also planned “to launch a trade sale process” of the branch network in the first half of 2016. 

Analysts said in December that potential buyers of Williams & Glyn could include Santander, Virgin Money, Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank, and Spain’s BBVA and that the Williams & Glyn network could be valued at up to £1.5 billion.