UK supermarket chain Tesco is mulling the sale of its banking arm, Sky News reports.
The retailer has reportedly brough in Goldman Sachs to advise on the future of the unit, which could be hived off via a partial sale or as a joint venture.
City insiders told Sky that discussion are at a preliminary stage and may yet be nixed.
Based in Edinburgh, Tesco Bank employs 3,800 people and generated adjusted operating profits of £67 million in its last half-year results.
For the 2022/2023 fiscal year, Tesco is expecting to report earnings of between £120M and £160M.
One banking analyst suggested the the business could be worth up to £1 billion.
Launched in 2017, Tesco Bank currently offers a suite of insurance, savings accounts and credit cards to its five million customers. The supermarket giant shut down its current acccount offering in 2021 after finding that only 12% of account holders were using it as their primary account.