Tesco Bank recruits new staff ready for current account launch

Wednesday, 11 December 2013 10:37

Tesco Bank has begun a recruitment drive ahead of the launch of its new current account range next year – a move that will see the retail giant going mano a mano with high street banks.

The company has announced that it is looking to hire 300 new members of staff to support the new financial service, which will be launched next summer.

These new jobs will be based in Glasgow and Edinburgh and they will increase the company’s total of employees by approximately eight per cent. Tesco Bank’s total headcount is currently around 4,000 – five years ago the bank employed just 200 staff members. 

Tesco Bank was originally launched in 1997 as a joint-venture with the Royal Bank of Scotland, however, in 2008, the company took full control as it wanted to expand the range of products on offer.

It has taken the bank a long time to be ready to launch current accounts because of teething problems of moving from its previous IT system of its former partner RBS to its own system.

In 2012, Tesco Bank started to offer its own mortgages and since then has lent £500 million to homeowners across the UK.

The company’s credit card is already well established as one of the leading brands – £12 billion a year is spent on Tesco Bank cards – and its personal loans lead industry rankings based on sales. In addition to this, Tesco cash points are used to withdraw £1 out of every £8 withdrawn in the country.

Tesco Bank already has a staggering 6.8 million customers across it loan, credit card and insurances businesses. The retailer is launching its own range of current accounts so that it will be able to offer more financial products to its customers.

Benny Higgins, chief executive of Tesco Bank, said: “This is all about ensuring we can offer the best service to our customers. Everything Tesco does is done with our customers in mind and our current account will be no exception.”

Mr Higgins took control of Tesco in 2008 and soon after staff sales targets were abolished, as well as bonuses attached to the sale of certain products.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph earlier this year, Mr Higgins said: “I took the view that incentives and targets are ineluctably corrosive. That single move refocused people on focusing on the customers.”

Comments Bubble Comments

Twitter: My Finances


Join the conversation at #news_myfinances


Newsletter sign up

Interests

In addition to the weekly newsletter, which areas of finance would you like to hear from us about:

Tick this box if you would like us to send you promotions from carefully selected third parties.

By signing-up you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy.

sign-up button

Get the latest information on: