Santander clamps down on profanities in business banking

Santander Bank has announced it will 'now stop any payments with profanities in the reference’ for its business banking users.

Despite appearing only in an update on Bank Santander’s business app, business owners were quick to inform Newspage of the policy change.

“The Monty Python sketch, ‘nobody expected the Spanish inquisition!’ springs to mind,” said Dariusz Karpowicz CII MP , Director at Albion Financial Advice. “It's surprising we're at a point where a bank dictates which words customers can use.”

Katy Eatenton CeMAP CeRER MLIBF , Mortgage & Protection Specialist at Lifetime Wealth Management sees this latest move of policing the wording in reference messages as veering away from the banks’ core responsibility of enabling financial transactions: “Banks need to focus more on service than what references are used on payments.”

Brits are known for their sense of humour and playful messages in bank transfers are a common occurrence, particularly between friends and family. Ranald Mitchell , Director at Charwin Mortgages, now worries this tradition is coming to an end: “This feels a bit like your overly strict aunt scolding you for harmless jokes,” said Ranald. “Let's face it, they're taking the fun out of those cheeky messages we love to send our friends.”

Dictating what words can be used in financial transactions doesn’t take into account the richness of the English language, where many place names, for example, contain a double meaning. Therefore, Santander's new policy may have unintended consequences as Hannah Bashford , Director at Model Financial Solutions points out: “The UK has plenty of villages with rude-sounding names, will transfers referencing them be blocked? Does this mean all holidays to Sandy Balls are now cancelled?”

Although seen as a fun pastime by many, Stephen Perkins , Managing Director at Yellow Brick Mortgages, reminds people that monitoring of transfer reference messages is already in place at many banks and can have real consequences: “Many people don’t realise that a funny reference could cause problems on a mortgage application for both sender and recipient.”

With the proliferation of online abuse Santander’s rationale for this new policy may be more about protecting their employees, as Graham Cox , Director at Self-Employed Mortgages Hub rightly points out: “When you consider the vile comments left on social media these days, it can't be much fun for Santander's staff constantly viewing profanities on banking transactions. A sign of the times I guess.”