Tesco Bank is a British retail bank which was formed in July 1997 (as Tesco Personal Finance), and which has been wholly owned by Tesco plc since 2008. The bank was formed as part of a 50:50 joint venture between The Royal Bank of Scotland and Tesco, the largest supermarket in the United Kingdom. Tesco later acquired Royal Bank of Scotland shareholding, which resulted in the bank becoming a wholly owned subsidiary, and now operates under its own banking licence under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. The bank offers a range of insurance, credit cards, loans, savings, mortgages and travel products. Tesco Bank also launched a current account in June 2014, but has since stopped accepting new current account applications, and all existing current accounts were closed in November 2021. A unique selling point of Tesco's banking products is that the bank is able to leverage its large customer base to cross-sell financial services products, as customers can accumulate Tesco Clubcard points when they purchase finance products. Tesco Bank came third in the British Bank Awards (2016), with an average customer satisfaction of 87.8%. History Prior to the formation of Tesco Personal Finance plc, Tesco had a banking joint venture with NatWest, which ended in February 1997. TPF was formed in July 1997, following the successful launch of Sainsbury's Bank by its main competitor, Sainsbury's. The bank was launched as a joint venture with the Royal Bank of Scotland, which processed all its financial transactions. Subsidiary companies of the Royal Bank, such as Direct Line, UKI and Lombard Direct helped Tesco Personal Finance provide insurance products. In July 2008, Tesco announced that they were buying out the Royal Bank of Scotland's 50% stake in the company for £950 million, and the transaction was completed later that year. In October 2009, Tesco Personal Finance was renamed Tesco Bank. Services Tesco Bank provides a range of personal accounts, including credit cards, loans, savings accounts, insurance and foreign currency exchange. Mortgages were added in August 2012, after briefly offering products provided by First Active in November 2004. The bank confirmed in December 2013 that it planned to launch a current account, and the first account was launched on 10 June 2014. Tesco Bank launched its first mobile app in 2014, supporting its core transactional products (Current and Savings accounts as well as Credit cards). In subsequent years it launched a number of innovative