Tesco has changed the name of its personal finance unit to Tesco Bank, reflecting the UK supermarket's determination to take on established high street players. It has also selected the core technology platforms for the division.
Last December the retail giant bought out the Royal Bank of Scotland to take complete control of Tesco Personal Finance. It has now renamed the unit Tesco Bank "in recognition of our longer-term objective of creating a full-service retail bank".
This strategy will include the introduction of a current account in the near future. The firm also plans to start offering mortgages.
The supermarket will continue to serve customers online and through the creation of in-store branches - 30 of which are planned by the end of the year.
Tesco says it has already selected the core technology platforms for the banking products, although no details have been provided.
Meanwhile, for its insurance offering it has signed an agreement with Fortis to help it build the operational platform and technical expertise.
Over the last year Tesco has cashed in on public disillusionment with traditional banks, adding 300,000 customer accounts, with double-digit growth in savings, loans and credit cards.
It now has more than six million customers across all financial products and is the seventh largest credit card issuer in the UK.
The unit recorded revenue of £420 million for the first half with a trading profit of £115 million.