Tesco has revealed that it is in the final stages of re-platforming its banking business.
"Tesco Bank continues to make good progress and is now in the final stages of the transition to its own systems and infrastructure," the company said in its 2011 Q1 management statement.
"Most of our existing products in insurance and banking have now been migrated across to Tesco successfully."
Tesco Bank said that its savings and loan platforms have now started operating for new customers, and that it would be migrating existing accounts "imminently".
Tesco Bank launched in 1997 and has 6.5 million customers. It offers savings accounts, loans and credit cards, and insurance for cars, homes and travel. It operates an in-store, phone and online business model.
Tesco has also made improvements to its online grocery channel. For example, it has introduced text messaging to notify customers when their delivery is due. It is also planning to implement a service called 'My Usuals', which will predict what customers will buy next based on their previous purchases.
Tesco has consistently invested heavily in IT and this has played a strong role in improving sales, the supply chain, and efficiency. The latest management statement reveals that group sales for the 13 weeks ending 28 May 2011 increased by 7.8 percent, including petrol, and 6.7 percent excluding petrol.
Among other systems, it has an in-house designed supply chain application, running on IBM system p servers based on Unix. Tesco Bank also has a deal with Cable & Wireless for managed data centres and hosted telephony for its insurance and banking customer service centres in Newcastle and Glasgow.