Not upheld: failure to provide adequate support to vulnerable consumer with gambling problem complaint against Nationwide Building Society

Decision detail

Summary

Mr R complained that Nationwide Building Society failed to offer adequate support when he disclosed a gambling problem in March 2025. Although Nationwide added a gambling block to his account and signposted him to external support, Mr R was able to continue gambling via Open Banking and requested that a specific merchant be blocked, which Nationwide declined. Mr R argued Nationwide should have done more to prevent his gambling and breached regulatory guidance. The ombudsman found that Nationwide's response was reasonable, the Open Banking bypass was a known limitation of the block that was explained to Mr R, and there is no regulatory obligation to provide merchant-specific blocking or active account monitoring. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Nationwide responded reasonably to Mr R's disclosure of gambling problems by promptly adding a gambling block and signposting to external support. The ombudsman clarified that current accounts are not actively monitored by staff, and manual reviews only occur when specific risks are identified or explicitly agreed. The fact that Mr R could bypass the block via Open Banking was a known limitation that was explained to him, not a failing by Nationwide. The ombudsman noted that regulatory guidance requires support to be reasonable and tailored, but does not mandate active account monitoring or checking whether customers are bypassing blocks. There is no obligation on Nationwide to provide merchant-specific blocking if other providers do so.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website