Tesco Bank has its origin in a joint venture (the JV) between Tesco and The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which was formed in 1997. This JV offered various personal banking products such as credit cards and loans to its customers but not a PCA. 

In December 2008, Tesco PLC acquired RBS’s 50% shareholding in TPF. In order to continue servicing its customers without the support of RBS, it had to establish the necessary business functions (including finance, risk management, treasury, etc), and acquire the required physical infrastructure (eg buildings for its operational teams). In October 2009, TPF was rebranded and changed its trading name to Tesco Bank. 

After purchasing RBS’s share of the JV in 2008, Tesco Bank established a stand-alone IT system and migrated its customers to this platform. In 2010, when most of this migration activity was complete, it began initial research on a PCA proposition with the objective of filling this gap in its banking portfolio.