Tesco's plan to take on High Street banks on hold as it delays current accounts
Every little counts: Tesco had planned to start promoting its current account this year to its 6.5million customers
Tesco's plans to take on the
High Street banks have suffered
a setback after it was forced to
put the introduction of its current
account on ice until next
year.
It is thought that one of the
sticking points was the supermarket’s
disastrous attempts last
summer to switch 850,000 customers
from its former partner Royal
Bank of Scotland to its computer
systems.
Gremlins in the bank’s IT systems
left hundreds of online customers
stranded for days without
access to their money.
Tesco Bank had planned to start
promoting its current account this
year to its 6.5million customers and
16m active Clubcard holders who
use the supermarket.
But it admitted it would not be
up and running until at some point
next year.
Tesco has tried to put a positive
spin on the delay and has denied
that the IT problems had anything
to do with it.
A spokesman said: ‘It’s all about
trying to get the right product.
That’s more important than rushing
things.’
It claims it will now be able to
take advantage of a new regime –
pushed through by the Independent
Banking Commission –
designed to make switching banks
more easier. This comes into force
in September 2013.
Tesco (down 1.85p to 324.8p) will
also miss out on the annual stampede
from savers, revealing that it
will not launch its cash Isa in time
for the start of the new tax year in
April.
Its launch into the mortgage
market, originally scheduled for
last autumn, is now penned in for
the next two months.
The news caps a gloomy few
months for Britain’s biggest
retailer. It issued a profit warning
last month after its ‘Big Price
Drop’ campaign of aggressive
price slashing backfired over the
festive season. This wiped 5billion off
its share price in a single day of
trading.
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