Tesco Bank up to 7m accounts
THE CHALLENGER bank run by grocer Tesco has opened 7m accounts for customers, across its whole range of products including insurance, savings and credit cards, it revealed today.
The landmark figure covers just over 5m customers, as some have more than one product with the retailer-based bank.
The figures put it ahead of other large challenger banks like Virgin Money, which has bought chunks of other firms including parts of Northern Rock. Virgin Money has more than 3m customers with more than 1.2m new products being taken out per year.
But despite its huge retail footprint and brand, Tesco Bank is still a long way behind the giants of the banking industry. Lloyds Bank has more than 30m customers while Barclays has more than 15m.
Tesco Bank began as a joint venture with RBS, as the retailer wanted to begin its new arm with a long-term banking firm. However, it bought out RBS in 2008 and said it has added 1.2m new accounts since, as well as increasing deposits by 58 per cent.
Tesco plans to enter the current account market in the coming four months, and has seized 12 per cent of the credit card market through its Clubcard loyalty scheme.
The bank expects the new current accounts to be the final stage in becoming a full retail bank with major offerings in all key markets.
It comes at a crucial time for the sector when new banks have been able to take some market share from the larger banks, some of whom have been shrinking since the credit crunch.