Tesco Aims for the Stars
I’ve professed my admiration for Tesco, the UK supermarket chain that is doing what Walmart wants to do (that is, build a bank). Recently, Tesco put its Capex dollars where its mouth is and installed banking technology that will allow Tesco Bank to get to the next level.
In 2009, Tesco, which has 6.5 million banking customers, chose to implement Fiserv’s Signature Bank Platform (not to be confused with Signature Bank), and went live with it last September. Fiserv just promoted the Tesco deal earlier this month.
The reason Tesco needed to move to the Signature Bank Platform is interesting. According to Fiserv:
Tesco sought to implement a comprehensive banking infrastructure to support its strategy when they acquired Royal Bank of Scotland’s share of Tesco Personal Finance in July 2008. The transition of services from RBS in-house required the implementation of a new target operating model and operating infrastructure.
Tesco Personal Finance Plc houses Tesco Bank.
It is interesting to see the knock-on technology implications of infrastructure changes. According to Fiserv, “Tesco has chosen to introduce new products and services in a phased manner, reflecting the development of that new operating model.” To me, this means Tesco’s technology will evolve with time, no doubt in partnership with Fiserv. That’s the cost of banking business.
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