NO decision has yet been made on whether Northern Rock will be sold, despite official advisors backing a sale as the best option.

A series of meetings have taken place this week between Deutsche Bank, which was appointed by “good bank” Northern Rock in March to examine options for its future, UK Financial Investments, (UKFI) the organisation which oversees the Government’s banking assets, and Northern Rock itself.

While it is understood that Deutsche Bank’s conclusion was that a sale would be the preferred option, listing Northern Rock on the stock market or the Government turning the former building society back into a mutual has not been discounted.

That does not rule out a sale to a building society, with both the Yorkshire Building Society and the Coventry Building Society expressing interest in recent weeks.

However, direct mutualisation by the Government, as opposed to a building society such as the Coventry or the Yorkshire buying Northern Rock, might not make the best return for the taxpayer, while a stock market flotation would also present problems.

It is understood that there will be further discussions on all the options before any decision is made.

Neither Northern Rock, which was split from “bad bank” NRAM last year or UKFI wished to comment last night.