Tesco Bank is to close all of its current accounts at the end of November.

The lender said it would write to holders of the 213,000 accounts to explain their options including switching to a savings product or taking their current account to another provider.

Tesco, which has offered a current account service since 2014, said it had found just 12% of those open were being used as customers’ primary current accounts.

“Most accounts have limited activity or are being used for other purposes, such as a savings pot,” the lender said.

Tesco Bank, part of Britain’s biggest supermarket group, serves more than five million customers with a range of products including credit cards, loans and insurance products.

It said the closure of the current account “supports Tesco Bank’s strategy of focusing on products and services that best meet the needs of Tesco shoppers”.

The current account had already been closed to new business in December 2019.

Tesco Bank said customers would receive letters in the next two weeks informing them of the closure of their account and explaining the options available to them.

Those not choosing to switch to a new current account are being asked to move any regular incoming or outgoing payments to a different account, and to make sure their account has a balance of £0, by 30 November.

The bank’s chief executive Gerry Mallon said: “The way customers shop and manage their money is constantly evolving and we are committed to developing products and services which align with the needs of Tesco shoppers.

“With so few of our current account customers using it as their primary account we want to support them to find a suitable alternative dependent on their circumstances.

“We will pay particular attention to supporting any vulnerable customers and those in need of financial assistance.”

Tesco Bank slumped to an operating loss of £470m for the year to 27 February, according to the supermarket group’s annual results, as the pandemic took its toll on the lender’s loan, credit card and travel money operations.

The lender was fined £16.4m in 2018 over what the City watchdog described as “largely avoidable” cyber attack two years earlier.

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