ASA rules to ban Nationwide ads

The advert triggered complaints from rival banks, such as Santander, leading to an investigation by the advertising watchdog.

In a ruling published by the ASA, the watchdog said: ““The ads were seen in the context of financial institutions closing their high street branches, and the ASA considered consumers would interpret the ads in relation to that scenario.

“Because we considered that consumers would understand from the ads that Nationwide would not be closing branches in the long-term future and that they had not recently closed branches, we concluded that the ads were misleading,” it said.

As covered by Financial Promoter in October last year, the advert depicted Dominic West in the “bad banker” role, seen mocking customers, expensing extravagant lunches, ordering branch closures, and ordering a colleague around in a large management office.

The mutual said the campaign was designed to showcase the difference that the society offers, when compared to shareholder-owned banks.

In fact, the watchdog concluded that in the 12 months prior to the ad campaign, Santander had closed fewer branches than Nationwide and there was no indication Santander would be closing branches in the future.

The ASA has determined that the ads must not appear again in their current form and has advised the building society not to mislead customers on the closure of branches.