TSB, Superquinn link up to deliver banking service

How about a mortgage with your marmalade? Or a loan with your loo paper? These and other financial services will be offered by Superquinn from next autumn as the supermarket chain teams up with TSB Bank to establish new personal banking facilities.

The in-store banking service, which has yet to be named, will provide a full range of financial services for personal customers, including current accounts, personal loans, mortgages and savings products. Customers will be able to access the service during normal shopping hours, six days a week.

Superquinn does not open on Sundays, although it is open on Saturdays and remains open until 9 p.m. on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays when customers will be able to avail of late-night banking as well as late-night shopping.

"The service will be the first of its kind in Ireland and will provide innovative products and a high level of convenience for personal customers," the chief executive of TSB, Mr Harry Lorton, said. The bank was approached by Superquinn last year about the provision of supermarket banking, a concept that has become increasingly popular in both the US and Britain.

The service will be jointly owned by the two companies, with TSB providing the banking processes and infrastructure, while Superquinn will provide the premises.

But it will function as a separate entity and will decide its own pricing structures which will not necessarily be the same as those on offer from TSB. "What it will be is very competitive," a TSB spokesman said.

It is the first time the joint venture structure has been used in either Ireland or Britain, where banks take space in supermarkets as AIB has done at Bloomfields in Dun Laoghaire or the stores act as agents for a bank. "What this will do is merge the culture of a customer service-oriented organisation like Superquinn with the strengths of a mainstream bank," said Superquinn's chairman, Mr Vincent O'Doherty.

Eighty staff will be recruited to provide the banking service which will also include access to 1,100 ATMs around the State and a telephone banking service. A chief executive is also being sought for the venture and the post will be advertised later this week.

The service will be introduced in the autumn in six stores, including those in Blanchardstown and Dundalk, and will gradually be extended to include all 17 stores in the Superquinn chain. At present, there are 11 Superquinn stores in Dublin and six in other parts of the State but the company has plans to build six new supermarkets in Bray, Clondalkin, Finglas, Limerick, Waterford and Naas. All the new stores will include the in-store banking service.

Supermarket banking has not yet taken off in Ireland, although it has proved popular in Britain where many retailers have joined the banks to offer in-store financial services.

It is understood that Tesco Ireland considered the issue for several months and commissioned Andersen Consulting to compile a report on its viability. However, the consultants concluded Tesco Ireland would find it hard to compete with existing providers in the Republic. Dunnes Stores has been involved in a pilot programme in Cork with Irish Life but has shown no sign yet of moving into the area.