Tesco is the top new entrant in the personal finance market, a Mintel report will show today.

The report, Non-Traditional Providers in Financial Services, found that Tesco Personal Finance has won 4.6 million customer accounts since it entered the personal finance market in 1997.

It is also the third biggest seller of pet insurance plans.

Tesco was followed by Sainsbury and Saga which both have two million customers.

The report said that deregulation, the blurring of sector boundaries and advances in technology had fuelled the number of supermarket groups entering personal finance, with 11 million people using supermarkets, the Post Office and car breakdown firms for financial products.

Mintel added that consumer awareness of these providers was high, and their market share will increase “considerably” over the next few years.