ASA bans NatWest and RBS ads

15 February 2012 | By Natalie Thomas

A local councillor and the Campaign for Community Banking Services challenged whether the claim was misleading and could be substantiated because it believed that there was at least one place, Farsley in Yorkshire, in which Natwest had closed a branch despite being the last bank.

CCBS also challenged whether the ad misleadingly implied that RBS would retain branches and their opening hours, because it understood that in some locations RBS had substantially reduced opening hours, or replaced branches with a visit from a mobile bank.

In its defence, RBS pointed out that the ad stated that its commitment was to continue providing “banking services” wherever it was the last bank in town and argued that it therefore did not go as far as to say that it would commit to keeping all branches open.

RBS said it did not believe that the ad implied that it would maintain its opening hours. It said the ad stated that “we will open our busiest branches for longer” which related to the fact that they opened 160 of their busiest branches earlier in the morning and/or later in the evening.

The ASA however upheld the complaint and said the ad would be interpreted by viewers as a claim that RBS would not close a branch in circumstances when it was the last bank in town.

It said that although RBS had replaced some banks with mobile banks, it considered that the ad implied that it would retain bricks-and-mortar branches when it had not done so.

It concluded that the ads were misleading and should not be shown again in their current form.

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