Coles in financial services push

Supermarket giant Coles has assembled a team of executives to work on plans to expand its financial services footprint in a way that further promotes greater customer loyalty to its stores, Fairfax Media reports.

The group’s work on strategies has reportedly already led to Coles trademarking the brand ‘Coles Mobile Wallet’ in a sign the firm wants to play a major role in the local digital payments space.

According to Fairfax, Coles has also trademarked ‘Coles Money, ‘Coles Financial Solutions’ and ‘Coles Financial Group’ over the past year as it looks to fulfill incoming boss John Durkan’s pledge to “boldly extend into new channels and services”.

Last year, the retailer approached the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority for a licence that would allow it to take deposits and Coles executives are reportedly confident they can challenge the dominance of the ‘big four’ in some areas.