The chief executive of TSB has ruled out the possibility of the bank making a move for beleaguered sector peer Co-operative Bank, claiming the bank was "not interested".

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 on Tuesday (18 April), TSB CEO Paul Pester distanced himself and the bank from any possible deals for the Manchester-based lender.

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"We've not looked at it, no," he said.

"We're very busy bringing more competition to UK banking. Very busy growing TSB. We have not looked at the Co-op. Like you, we'll be interested to see what happens."

Last week, Co-op bank said it was due to enter into detailed takeover talks with "several parties", a day after its parent group declared it worthless – writing its entire value down as zero.

The loss-making lender said it "has selected several parties to enter a further phase during which these parties will be provided with additional information".

In February, the bank, which is 20% owned by the Co-Operative Group, said the sale was an option it had always considered as a "possible outcome" of its turnaround strategy.

The lender was brought back from the brink in 2013 after a £1.5bn black hole had emerged in its books and was rescued by US hedge funds, although it said it made good progress by cutting its costs by over 20% by 2014,

The fallout from the scandal saw former chairman Paul Flowers step down in 2013, before pleading guilty to drug possession 12 months later. In January 2016, former chief executive Barry Tootell and former managing director Keith Alderson were banned by the Bank of England from holding senior positions in the industry.

Co-op bank, which has four million customers, reported an annual loss of £477m last month, bringing its cumulative losses over the last five years to more than £2.7bn.

Since failing the Bank of England's stress test in 2014, Co-op bank has been closely watched by regulators while it tries to restore its capital to an acceptable level.