One of the bidders vying to buy 315 branches from Royal Bank of Scotland today insisted its £1.5bn (€1.75bn) plan will pave the way for a “strong challenger bank”.

British supermarket giant Tesco plans to open 30 bank branches in its stores in the UK by the end of this year as part of its continued push into financial services, it emerged today.

Supermarket giant Tesco reported slower-than-expected UK growth today in a more “challenging” market for its non-food goods.