Tesco Bank chief executive Benny Higgins told Reuters that current accounts could grow as big as its credit card unit.
Currently, the firm’s payment cards are claimed to be used atleast in one out of eight transactions in the UK.
The current accounts market is presently held by Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, and HSBC.
About 7.2 million Tesco Bank customers are offered savings accounts and mortgages, the news agency reported.
In 2009, RBS’s 50% share in Tesco Personal Finance was acquired by Tesco in a transaction worth £950m. Later on, the company forayed into the current accounts market.
Higgins said that it would take time to expand the current accounts business as Britons are reluctant to shift accounts.
"I think that we can aspire to be a significant player but I think the nature of the market means it will take time," Higgins was quoted as saying by the news agency in an interview.
Account holders of Tesco Bank receive credits through Clubcard, the bank’s loyalty scheme, which they can spend inside its stores.
According to Higgins, once the customers become the bank’s account holders, they spend on average 12% more in Tesco stores.
Formed in 1997, Tesco Bank is a retail bank and was originally formed as part of a 50:50 joint venture between The Royal Bank of Scotland and UK’s supermarket Tesco.
Image: Tesco Bank offers savings accounts to about 7.2 million customers. Photo: courtesy of Tesco Personal Finance Plc
