In a story published in The Telegraph, a customer wrote to complain about his experiences last July while visiting the popular British bank NatWest. Despite Pride month being over, the bank was still displaying Pride flags. The customer, known only as “Mr. J”, said that the flags caused him distress because of his disabilities and religious beliefs. When he complained, the bank said they would not take down the flags, and suggested he try online banking or banking over the phone if he was upset by the decorations. Mr J was very upset by that response, so he filed a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman Service of the UK, an organization that investigates consumer issues with financial institutions. Ombudsman Danielle Padden wrote:
“NatWest is a bank that has chosen to display Pride materials along with other paraphernalia at certain times of the year. As a service, we wouldn’t be able to tell them not to do that, as they are entitled to celebrate and raise awareness of the communities they serve. I’m not able to decide that NatWest have acted unfairly here. They have provided alternative methods of banking and are entitled to decide what materials they display in their branches at certain times of the year.”
NatWest has over 500 branches, and has continually ranked well on the Stonewall’s UK Workplace Equality Index (similar to the HRC Corporate Equality Index).
