Tesco has hired investment bankers to advise on a possible sale of its Edinburgh-based banking operations.

Goldman Sachs has been appointed by the FTSE 100 company to seek a buyer for Tesco Bank as the supermarket group seeks a retreat from financial services, first indicated in February when it said the business was under review.

Britain’s biggest grocer entered the industry in 1997 through a 50-50 joint venture with Royal Bank of Scotland and took full ownership in 2008.

However, it sold the bank’s mortgage book to Lloyds Banking Group for £3.8 billion and later withdrew from the current account market.

It still has about five million customers and services that range from insurance to savings accounts, credit cards and personal loans.