The Co-operative Bank, which put itself up for sale last month, made a loss of £477.1million in 2016.

This was down from the £610.6million loss it reported in 2015.

The bank's chairman Dennis Holt said considerable progress had been made in turning the bank around.

"Since 2013, a viable core bank has been rebuilt, non-core assets have been reduced by more than half, legacy conduct issues have been substantially remediated, and risk management disciplines have been improved," he said.

"Most importantly, we have a robust franchise anchored in our values and ethics which are clearly important to our customers and colleagues. During 2016 we delivered further positive progress in rebuilding a customer-focused retail banking proposition with values and ethics at its heart; a proposition that we believe has the potential to grow further in the future.

"At the same time, challenges emerged that impacted on our plan. A key factor has been the lower for longer interest rate environment which has affected the income and profitability profile of the bank.

"In addition, the costs of transforming the bank and fixing the legacy issues of the past, proved to be higher than we originally anticipated."