Sainsbury's announces major change that will affect nearly 2 million customers

Sainsbury’s has made a major announcement that will affect nearly 2 million of its customers.

The company has said it will be winding down its banking division as part of plans to focus efforts on the retail side of the business. Sainsbury's announced today that it was exploring several options as part of a “phased withdrawal”.

Sainsbury’s Bank currently offers loans, credit cards and savings accounts and it has around 1.9 million banking customers. It stressed that changes will not affect anyone immediately, and that it will be “business as usual for now”. There is currently no timeline for how long the exit will take.

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The changes could result in products being outsourced to other providers, which it already does with its insurance products, and through which it offers Argos credit cards and loans to about 2.1 million customers.

Simon Roberts, chief executive of Sainsbury’s, said: "We have been clear since we launched our food first strategy in 2020 that we would concentrate our efforts on our core retail businesses and today’s announcement reflects that strategic focus. We will, of course, communicate directly to customers well in advance of any changes to their products and services."

Sainsbury’s Bank chief executive Jim Brown is set to retire from his role amid the wind-down of the division. He will be replaced by Robert Mulhall, who previously headed up Allied Irish Bank’s UK division, at the end of March to oversee the changes.

Earlier this month, Sainsbury’s revealed it had seen a jump in sales over the Christmas period, with shoppers buying bigger volumes of products amid a slowing