Over the next two years, Marks & Spencer will launch 50 branches throughout the UK, with the first scheduled to open in July at its flagship Marble Arch store in London, said the retailer.
The group, which serves approximately 21 million customers each week, said that current accounts would be provided from autumn 2012 and customers can pre-register their interest in July.
M&S Bank chief executive Colin Kersley said, "M&S Bank is the natural next step for M&S Money and will provide customers with a credible, alternative choice in the banking sector."
HSBC stated the project was its biggest innovation in retail banking since introducing First Direct, the online and telephone bank, 22 years ago and is expected to fuel competition in the country’s established high street banks.
Europe’s largest bank HSBC said that the new initiative helps it to attract high quality new depositors from M&S’s relatively affluent and older customer base.
Currently, the UK’s retail banking sector is dominated by Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Barclays and Santander UK.
Last year the UK government supported a report advocating for more competition in the retail banking sector so that new players will pressure the big four to offer more credit.
