UK supermarket giant Tesco is looking to capitalise on the credit crunch by offering its customers home loans as well as current accounts.
Andrew Higgins, chief executive of retailing services at Tesco, told reporters that opportunities in the banking sector are bigger now than in July, when the supermarket said it was buying out the personal finance joint venture established with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).
Tesco said it would extend the financial services business from a collection of financial products to that of a "full service retail bank", with an increasing number of services offered in stores. The retailer is currently piloting a banking services desk at a supermarket Glasgow.
However, in addition to current accounts Higginson told reporters that Tesco would look to enter the mortgage market.
The supermarket has previously dismissed suggestions that it would offer mortgages because they were seen as unprofitable. However Higginson said the credit crunch - and the return of "rational pricing" in mortgages - appears to have created a potential opportunity.
Tesco makes banking move to capitalise on credit crisis - The Independent