Dominic West’s portrayal of an arrogant, smoothie-drinking, branch-closing banker has landed Nationwide in potentially hot water, with the building society now facing a formal complaint over its TV advert from a rival lender.
Santander UK is understood to have lodged a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over the television commercial, on the basis that it “discredits and denigrates” Nationwide’s rivals and paints a misleading picture about bank branch closures.
The ad in question shows West – the actor known for playing parts including Jimmy McNulty in The Wire and Prince Charles in The Crown – mock customers while laying plans for branch closures at his fictional bank.
When a colleague challenges him, saying Nationwide are not closing branches, West replies: “We’re not Nationwide, are we! We’re nothing like them. I went into one of our branches once,” he adds, before mocking a customer. “‘I’d like to speak to the manager. I think I’ve lost my life savings’ – total yawn fest!”
“What if you have lost your life savings?” the colleague asks, before West says “that’s what chatbots are for”, and snaps his fingers for a green smoothie.
The swipe at high street banks that have been closing branches prompted rival Santander UK to file the complaint shortly after the TV advert aired in the autumn, according to Sky News, which first reported the story.
An ASA spokesperson said the complaint was being reviewed, though it had not yet decided whether to launch a formal investigation. “We’ve received a complaint about this Nationwide ad. The complainant argues that the ad is misleading around other banks closing branches, and discredits and denigrates its competitors.”
The television commercial was released in October last year, as part of a major advertising push by Nationwide, which had undergone a rebrand under the chief executive, Debbie Crosbie. The building society has been trying to set itself apart from rival banks and portray itself as a more ethical option, given it is owned by its members rather than shareholders.
Nationwide has also been trumpeting its “branch promise”, having pledged to keep all of its existing branches open until at least 2026, unless there are circumstances “outside of our control.”
Meanwhile, UK banks closed 645 branches in 2023, according to Which? magazine. They include Barclays, which shut 180 sites, as well as NatWest and HSBC, which closed 138 and 114 branches, respectively. Most lenders have been shutting branches to cut costs, saying it reflects the fact that more of their customers are banking online, particularly in the wake of pandemic lockdowns.
Santander UK declined to comment.
A Nationwide spokesperson said: “We are aware of the complaint made to the ASA and await the outcome. Unlike the big banks, Nationwide has not pursued a significant branch closure programme. We now have more branches than any other brand and will soon be the last one standing in almost 100 communities. Our Branch Promise means that everywhere we have a branch, we’ll still be there until at least 2026.”
