Tesco Personal Finance becomes Tesco Bank

Commenting on Tesco's move into full service banking, Kevin Mountford, head of banking at moneysupermarket.com, said; "We welcome this news and although it had been strongly rumoured it is good to hear it formalized."

"In the main the UK banking market has offered a healthy competitive environment; however the last year has seen some major consolidation, which in the long run is likely to affect the level of customer choice. As we see this major UK retail brand take its financial services proposition to another level it can only help to provide the UK consumer with further meaningful options"

"The move into bank accounts is also good to see as this is one area that needs to be challenged with greater levels of switching encouraged."