Halifax's much-hyped telephone and internet bank Intelligent Finance promises to open this morning, more than two months later than planned.

IF, which has bought the rights to Fatboy Slim's hit Right Here, Right Now for advertising purposes, claims to be able to save each household taking out its products £500 a year.

The Edinburgh-based operation, into which Halifax is ploughing £120m over two years, will permit customers to open accounts and buy products only through its call centre at first. Its internet service will be opened to the public later on.

It is the Halifax's version of Abbey National's cahoot, which launched earlier this year and was immediately dogged by technology problems.

The advertising campaign, which began in July when it was supposed to have launched, will resume after the weekend. IF, which has been concerned that it could be swamped by customers, said that the first accounts had been opened yesterday, even before its official launch. IF is starting with a range of products, include current accounts, savings accounts, mortgages, credit cards and personal loans as well as insurance.

Jim Spowart, chief executive of IF, lured from Standard Life last year, calculated that 6m people could quality for a nil interest rate on their credit card.