It launched in 1997 as Tesco Personal Finance, a joint venture with RBS, but became fully owned by Tesco in 2008.

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Tesco Personal Finance has announced plans to increase staff at its Edinburgh headquarters from 250 to 450 by the end of the year.

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So far its most successful foray into another sector has been in financial services, with Tesco Personal Finance (set up 11 years ago) offering insurance, loans and credit cards.

FORBES

In Britain, for example, Goodwin's niche brands besides NatWest and RBS range from Coutts (bankers to the Queen of England) to Tesco Personal Finance (a bank that's a joint venture with the supermarket chain) to DirectLine (insurance sales over the telephone).

FORBES: Magazine Article

Tesco Personal Finance currently offers a limited range of financial products, including car and health insurance, credit cards, personal loans and online savings accounts, but there has been speculation that after current accounts they could branch out into the area of mortgages.

FORBES: Market Scan