By Lana Clements

The monopoly held over the current account market by Britain's Big Five banks doesn't look set to break apart any time soon, as Tesco reveals it won't be launching its offering until next year.

The UK retail giant had planned to launch current accounts this autumn, but has blamed industry-wide implementation of systems to help customers switch for delays.

"We are progressing at the right pace in our journey towards offering a full-service bank. We're close to completing the migration of our existing products and services and will continue to take a cautious approach to launching new products," a spokeswoman comments, as reported by Reuters.

Over 57 million current account customers are held collectively between Barclays HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, RBS and Santander. The government has hoped new entrants to consumer finance, such as Tesco, will be able to tackle the stronghold on the nation's finances.

Virgin Money, whose purchase of Northern Rock went through at the start of the year, has been tipped as another entrant to shake up the market. However, current accounts from Virgin also aren't due for release until next year.

Criticism was levelled at Virgin when it was understood it planned to charge customers £60 a year for all current accounts, although in an apparent u-turn Richard Branson has said this won't be the case.

In recent months competition for current account customers from high street bank has intensified. Free overdrafts, cash incentives and high interest on in credit balances are among the tricks banks and building societies are using to get customers switching.