Tesco Bank quietly stops selling travel insurance

Tesco Bank has quietly dropped its travel insurance offering, after ending its partnership with the same company used by John Lewis for a similar product.

The group had offered travel insurance through Ageas, a Brussels-based firm, for eight years but the partnership was ended in December of last year.

While existing customers will continue to be served until their policy expires, anyone attempting to take out cover since February 1 of this year has been unable to do so.

Commenting on the move, a Tesco Bank representative said: “We continually review our partnerships with 3rd party underwriters to ensure we are offering customers the best possible service and, after 8 successful years, we agreed with Ageas that we will end our Travel Insurance partnership in December last year.

“All Tesco Bank travel insurance customers continue to be served until their policy expires.”

It emerged earlier this year that John Lewis & Partners had cut its ties with the same company, to the frustration of some loyal customers.

The end of the schemes comes after Ageas signalled a partial wind-down of its broker travel business last November, with its online facility due to close by the end of this month.

It will continue to offer bespoke travel schemes for brokers looking to continue selling a travel product to their customers.

Neither Tesco nor John Lewis have yet announced whether they intend to launch a new travel insurance product.