M&S Plans Summer UK Bank Launch with HSBC Support
One of the UK's largest banks HSBC is backing Marks and Spencer in its bank launch this summer, which will include physical branches, current account facilities and create 500 new jobs in the UK.
The UK retailer said it will open 50 branches, seven days a week while also having online banking facilities and UK based call centres.
The group added that it will be offering mortgages at a later date.
While M&S will be fronting the new bank, the entity will be supported by one of Britain's largest banks, HSBC.
"This is our most significant innovation in retail banking since we launched First Direct over 22 years ago," said Joe Garner, Head of HSBC in the UK in a statement.
Currently, M&S has over 3m customers that use M&S Money products, including credit cards, loans and savings. The launch of M&S Bank will create 500 new UK roles by the end of 2013, which includes 400 customer-facing roles in branches across the country and around 100 roles at the company's Chester based head office.
The market reacted quite neutrally to the news, with M&S shares trading mostly flat at 337.80p as of 0750 GMT.
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