Tesco Bank to re-locate to England if Scots vote for independence

LONDON (Reuters) - Tesco Bank said on Thursday it would move its head office out of Scotland and into England if Scots vote for independence, becoming the fifth Scottish-domiciled bank to do so over the past 24 hours. "To ensure we provide long term continuity for customers after the transition is complete, our contingency plans include the creation of a new registered company, domiciled in England," the bank said on its website. "While the creation of a new company would change the address of our registered headquarters, we do not expect there would be any immediate impact on colleagues at our existing centres. "Scotland is an important market to us and will continue to be an important market regardless of the outcome of the referendum," added the bank, which is one of the five biggest lenders in the Scottish market. Scotland votes on leaving the United Kingdom on Thursday Sept. 18. (This version of the story has been corrected to change the referendum date to Sept. 18 from Aug. 18 in final paragraph) (Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Laura Noonan)