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Northern Rock bosses will face MPs today to explain their role in the crisis which resulted in the first run on a British bank in almost 150 years.

Last month worried savers withdrew more than £2 billion from Northern Rock, after it emerged that the lender had asked the Bank of England to act as its lender of last resort.

The company's chief executive Adam Applegarth and chairman Matt Ridley will appear before the Treasury select committee to give evidence about the circumstances which led Northern Rock to apply to the central bank for emergency funding.

The Newcastle-based bank was forced to request the cash after it ran into liquidity problems resulting from the ongoing global credit crunch.

Rising default levels in the US sub-prime mortgage market have made banks more wary about lending cash to one another on the wholesale markets, due to uncertainty about the extent to which they are exposed to bad debts in the sector.

Analysts say Northern Rock's chiefs are likely to be questioned by MPs about the bank's business model, which sees the lender raise most of the cash it provides for mortgages via the wholesale credit market. As such the bank was particularly vulnerable to the impact of the credit crunch.

Bank of England governor Mervyn King and the chief executive of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), Hector Sants, have already faced tough questions from the Treasury select committee about their role in the Northern Rock debacle.

Meanwhile speculation is continuing about the possible future of the bank, which revealed yesterday that it was still in talks with various parties over the matter.

Northern Rock said in a statement that it was still in talks with "a number" of potential suitors, but that discussions were at a "very early stage".

Confirmation of the potential takeover talks comes after a consortium led by Sir Richard Branson revealed that it was among those interested in Northern Rock.

Under takeover plans put forward by a Virgin-led consortium, which also includes AIG and American and Far East investors, Northern Rock would be rebranded under the Virgin Money name.

A statement from Virgin said it was committed to retaining the bank's business "in its entirety", but claimed that a complete rebranding was needed to restore consumer confidence in Northern Rock.