Tesco Bank hunts data chief as group revival rolls on

tesco twoTesco’s banking division is aiming to recruit its first ever chief data officer as part of plans to place greater emphasis on the way information is collected, stored and used to drive the business forward.
The chief data officer will be tasked with being the key “data strategist” and adviser to the business, and will aim to improve data quality, encourage the reuse of data assets, improve the provision of data to Tesco Bank customers, colleagues and business processes, and develop new data products.
The successful candidate, who will be based in Edinburgh, will report to the chief customer officer, and work closely with the executive leadership team as well as the chief information officer and strategic partners.
According to the recruitment ad, the CDO will have to improve the way the bank collects, uses, manages and publishes data both internally and externally, while ensuring that data is available, reliable, consistent, accessible, secure and timely in support of Tesco Bank and Tesco Group’s overall objectives.
Formed in 1997 as a joint venture with the Royal Bank of Scotland, Tesco Bank has been wholly owned by Tesco since 2008. It offers a range of insurance, credit cards, loans, savings, mortgages and travel products, and launched a current account in June 2014.
With around 7 million customer accounts and policies, a major part of its strategy is cross-selling financial services to Tesco’s 15 million Clubcard holders.
The move comes as Tesco Group reported a second consecutive quarter of higher sales. In a trading statement, the supermarket said its UK like-for-like sales were up 0.3% in the 13 weeks to 28 May.
For the group as a whole, including its businesses in Ireland, the European mainland and Asia, the rise was 0.9%. In April, Tesco announced its first growth in quarterly sales for three years, with UK like-for-like sales up 0.9%.
Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis said: “We have delivered a second quarter of positive like-for-like sales growth across all parts of the group in what remains a challenging market with sustained deflation. We are encouraged by the progress we are making.”
The retail giant also confirmed it had agreed to sell its Harris & Hoole coffee shop chain to Caffe Nero; this follows the sale of Dobbies Garden Centres chain and restaurant chain Giraffe.

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