Tesco may use information gathered on customers’ shopping habits to rate their creditworthiness.

Britain’s biggest supermarket, which is rapidly expanding its banking division, told analysts that its successful loyalty card could be used to help it to assess applications for credit cards. Its Clubcard scheme has 16 million active users in Britain and has provided a wealth of information on shopping habits, which is processed by its Dunnhumby subsidiary. Clubcard has been placed at the centre of its advance into personal finance.

In a presentation to analysts, the company said that “using Clubcard for credit assessment” was among the “synergies” of offering credit cards alongside a standard loyalty scheme.

The use of shopping data when deciding on issuing credit cards may alarm shoppers. The Office of the Information Commissioner said that the practice would be acceptable as long as it was highlighted in Clubcard’s terms and conditions.

A spokesman for Tesco said that it would continue to use Experian, the credit reference agency, for its credit-scoring and insisted that the Clubcard data was used only on an “aggregated basis”. There was no suggestion that the move would be for any purpose other than rewarding loyalty.

Tesco has signed Fiserv, an American company, to provide the technological platform of its bank, underlining its ambitions to become a big player in the financial sector.

During a two-day seminar with investors, Andy Higginson, chief executive of Tesco’s financial services division, which includes insurance, banking and telecoms, outlined plans to more than double the division’s profits to £1 billion over several years. It also outlined plans to become a key player in telecoms, as The Times reported yesterday. Tesco said that the first wave of its expansion would focus on the one-in-four Britons who are in its Clubcard scheme. It told analysts that these customers were “cheaper” to win because they were already visiting its stores and being exposed to Tesco marketing.

Only 10 per cent of Clubcard-holders have a Tesco credit card, Tesco’s main financial business, while only 4.2 per cent have Tesco car insurance and only 2.2 per cent a Tesco savings product.

Mr Higginson told analysts that Tesco credit card-holders spent 30 per cent more than “lookalike” customers of the same age, income and demographic profile. This means that, as well as providing a separate stream of income, Tesco believes that it will enhance retail sales in its stores.

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