Tesco to sell pension annunities

Britain's biggest grocer Tesco has announced plans to launch a pension annuity comparison service. The move is seen as an attempt to tap into the lucrative at retirement market, in which more than 400,000 people each year buy annuities to pay an annual income for life.

The service will be an extension of the retailer's Tesco Compare website, which scans the cost of motoring and buildings insurance as well as energy tariffs. Tesco has not said how many annuity providers it will link to, or whether it will offer an online underwritten service.