Every little helps, according to Tesco, and let’s hope it proves to be what’s needed to shake up the smug high street banks.

The supermarket giant has just launched a new current account, introducing more competition into the industry.

And although the thought of discussing overdrafts with the same people you buy your carrots from may seem strange, this is a logical step as Tesco has had a banking arm for the past six years, offering credit cards, mortgages and savings accounts.

Better still, the fact it has made this move will encourage other new players, which in the long run, will prove a winner for consumers in that we will all get a better deal with lower fees and better interest rates on our savings.

Tesco hopes to persuade a sizeable chunk of its six million banking customers to open a current account, by offering perks such as Club Card points every time you use your debit card – in or out of the store.

Banking is free, as long as you pay in a minimum of £750 a month and you can pay in at more than 300 of its stores around the UK.

There’s up to three per cent interest on deposit accounts of more than £3,000, a 24-hour customer service line and an app which lets you operate your account from your mobile phone.

It all sounds pretty good and it’s not the only option, if you are fed up with the biggies – Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander.

We now have more choice than ever before, as retailers rush in to provide banking services.

Marks & Spencer has a banking joint venture with HSBC and Sainsbury offers some banking, though not current accounts yet.

The Co-operative Bank does have a current account and online and telephone banking firm First Direct has been around for a while.

Last year I wrote about how it had been made much easier to switch bank accounts, thanks to the Payments Council which oversees all that sort of thing.

All the main banks signed up to a scheme that means all you have to do is tell the new bank you have chosen that you want to move your current account there.

It will take care of all the hassle, direct debits and so on, and everything will be done and dusted within seven working days.

So, what’s happened since? In the six months since the new switching rules were introduced, 700,000 customers have ditched their old bank and moved to a new one.

It may sound like a lot but that’s a rise of only one sixth – not exactly a landslide.

Considering how many people moan about their bank, you’d have thought there would be a stampede.

Even more bafflingly, the Payments Council says two thirds of people now know about the service and a similar number are confident it works.

Hmm. Old habits die hard, I suppose, especially when it comes to our hard-earned cash.