August 20, 2009

The supermarket giant said the centre would open in central Glasgow in the first half of 2010. Tesco wants to offer a full banking service, with its Edinburgh-based Tesco Personal Finance (TPF) already having six million customers. It hopes to open TPF branches in Tesco stores. Six are being trialled at the moment, including one at the Silverburn Shopping Centre near Glasgow.

Tesco recently bought out former partner Royal Bank of Scotland's 50% stake in TPF, while there has been speculation that Tesco may also bid for Northern Rock when the government sells the lender. TPF, which currently employs 500 people in Edinburgh, has received a £5m grant from the Scottish Government to help create the service centre.