ALEX BRUMMER: Lessons from Bank of Dave Fishwick
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Lessons from Bank of Dave: Gap between established banks, citizens and entrepreneurs illustrated by Netflix movie, says ALEX BRUMMER
This year has started as it ended last year, with more and more bank branch closures. Lloyds is closing a further 40 outlets across its networks, in addition to the 64 closures already revealed by Barclays and Spain’s TSB.
The predatory behavior of High Street banks and declining service to all but the most affluent customers has been a source of anger some 15 years after the state bailouts in the Great Financial Crisis.
The divide that has opened up between established banks, citizens and entrepreneurs is beautifully illustrated by the British film Bank Of Dave, now on Netflix.
Main stage: British film Bank Of Dave tells the story of the struggle of Dave Fishwick (pictured), the real Dave
It tells how a successful Burnley businessman, with deep ties to his local community, struggled to convert his interest-free loan offer to friends into a full-service lender, Burnley Savings & Loans.
Government funding has a long history in Britain, exemplified by credit unions, building societies and co-operative banking. The guts have been ripped out of such schemes by the greedy behavior of former mutual backers such as Newcastle-based Northern Rock.
Heavy-handed regulations and capital requirements work against local start-ups. As with any fictional portrayal of true events, Dave Fishwick’s struggle, the real Dave, against the town’s “tossers” exaggerates hostile attitudes. Nevertheless, the story of Northern outsiders triumphing over life’s obstacles, as in The Full Monty and Billy Elliot, has resonance in the era of the Red Wall and the rise.
The production brilliantly captures the Oxbridge and public school dominated culture of the Square Mile, as well as the cohesion of major cities behind both the financial institutions and regulators. It shows how little contact they have with regular gamblers.
For example, when the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) cracked down on lenders’ doorstep lending in 2018, it drove some of the less well off into the hands of baseball bat-wielding loan sharks. City supervisors would be crazy to let just any old businessman set up a bank without legal capital and oversight, no matter how noble their record as a lender may be. Finances at all levels are being devastated by the unscrupulous.
Hardly a day goes by without the Public Prosecution Service revealing how a financial advisor or local lawyer was brought to court after misusing client money.
In addition, the Bank of England and FCA have sought to encourage a new generation of bankers, if not cottage industry banks.
Starling, Metro, Atom, Monzo and Revolut offer several options. None of these deal with the idea of not-for-profit community loans like Burnley Savings & Loans. It is clear that banking is not meeting local needs, especially in struggling cities and towns.
Bank Of Dave’s warm glow can be an outlier in its local and public purpose. But it dramatically illustrates a loophole in British finances.
Downstream
Netflix is quickly refreshing its model. Founder Chairman Reed Hastings may be taking a step back, but he’s leaving the streaming service in reasonable shape.
It holds up against the formidable challenges of streaming rivals such as Disney+, Paramount+ and niche players such as our own ITVX, commanding 48 percent of the market. It’s trying to turn more of its sales into revenue through an advertising deal with Meta and will stop sharing passwords, forcing “guests” to pay.
Creative output has contracted, down $4 billion in the last quarter from $5.7 billion in the same period last year.
The quality does not seem to have suffered. Entertaining public service shows like Madoff: The Monster Of Wall Street and tennis documentary Break Point keep the standard high.
As Disney approaches its centenary on Jan. 27, it struggles with activist riots, boardroom unrest, and the challenge of building streaming numbers. In contrast, fledgling Netflix is getting its act together, though shares are still 30 percent below peak.
Shopping
It’s difficult to reconcile the 1% drop in official retail sales in December with the strong performance of the High Street and grocers over the holiday season.
The timing of the data differs and the ONS figures are seasonally adjusted. Most importantly, online shopping lost its luster in 2022, with shoppers flocking back to malls and high streets, flattering numbers from M&S, JD Sports and the like. Consumer habits can and will change quickly.