Sainsbury's Bank

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Sainsbury's Bank plc

Type	Public limited
Founded	19 February 1997
Headquarters	Holborn, London
Products	Financial services
Revenue	£330 million GBP (2005)
Net income	£(10) million GBP (Loss)
Parent	J Sainsbury plc/Bank of Scotland
Website	www.sainsburysbank.co.uk/

Sainsbury's Bank plc is a bank operating in the United Kingdom and owned by J Sainsbury plc and the Bank of Scotland (a subsidiary of HBOS plc), with 55% and 45% shares respectively. It is a company incorporated in England, at 33 Holborn, London.

Sainsbury's was the first major UK supermarket group to establish a banking arm, with operations beginning on February 19, 1997. The company has access to over 11 million customers who visit Sainsbury's every week and offers credit cards, savings, insurance, mortgages and loans.

Other UK supermarkets have entered the financial services market, e.g. Tesco Financial Services offering similar products. Both companies link many products to their reward schemes, for example bonus points for purchasing a new product.

While the Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd. division has struggled since the late 1990s, Sainsbury's Bank has been a largely successful venture. The division generated its first profit in 1999.

Ironically however as the supermarket division has seen its fortunes improve under new CEO Justin King, Sainsbury's Bank has begun to struggle. In late 2004 J Sainsbury plc announced the bank was suffering "in an increasingly competitive market". This has continued towards the end of 2005, King announced Sainsbury's Bank would make a loss in the first two quarters of 2005 due to "bad and doubtful debt." In March 2006 the bank's Chief Executive Tim Pile agreed to step down due to increasing losses as a result of bad debt. For the year ending 25 March 2006 Sainsbury's bank reported increased revenue of £330 million (from £288 million in 2005) but still posted a loss of £10 million (from £17 million in 2005). "