WASHINGTON — Big banks now know: Virgin billionaire Sir RichardBranson has them in his crosshairs.

He told a full house at BAI Retail Delivery at the Washingtonconvention center on Tuesday that even though his new bank,Virgin Money,onlykicked into high gear a few months ago when he purchased theremains of failed United Kingdom bank Northern Rock, “we alreadyoriginate one in three new mortgages in the UK.”

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Branson paid 747 million pounds – roughly $1.2 billion – forNorthern Rock,an institution taken under public ownership in 2008 after a run onits assets.

“Northern Rock went spectacularly wrong. We decided to try tosave it,” said Branson, who started by changing the name – “thebrand was damaged” – to Virgin Money.

Branson (ranked number 255 on the Forbes richlist, with $4.2 billion) made plain that he has built his companiesand earned his fortune going after conglomerates that, he believes,need shaking up.

He has done it, with some success, in music, in airtransportation, in telephony, and in a number of other businesses.He clearly believes that an historic opportunity exists to go aftera sizable share of banking which, mainly, is controlled by a smallhandful of institutions in the United Kingdom. “But our rivals havebeen badly damaged,” said Branson.

“I look for areas where we can improve on how other companies doit,” said Branson who emphasized that it is important to deliver anexperience that is fun for customers, but it also has to be anexperience where every little detail is done right.

With Virgin Money branches, Branson said, his aim has been toremake them so they have the look and feel of a first class airportlounge.

“We want to give people a banking experience that is fun,pleasant. The first thing I did was take a sledgehammer and knockeddown the iron bars that separate tellers from customers,” hesaid.

Is Virgin Money coming to the United States – keeping in mindthat Branson already operates airlines here and his Virgin Mobileis a force in the discount cellular market? The usually voluble SirRichard turned coy on that point, admitting “we have a team in theU.S. presently looking for opportunities for us. But we have noimmediate plans. One day we will enter this market.”

But he just is not saying when that day is.