The Bank of Dave true story adds an extra layer of endearing oddness to the 2023 Netflix movie, and the fact that Dave’s attempts to start his own bank actually happened only serve to make the strange underdog story all the more charming. One of several Netflix productions to come out of the UK, director Chris Foggin’s comedy-drama tells the story of Dave Fishwick (Rory Kinnear), a millionaire who decides to try and set up his own bank. The reasons he wants to do this are wholesome and well-meaning – it’s not because he wants to profit, but because he feels that the financial sector in the UK isn’t giving people fair treatment.

Dave simply wants to set up a fair financial lender so that businesses in his local community have a chance at a fair start. Unfortunately, to do this, he needs to acquire a license to be an officially regulated bank from the FSA (Financial Services Authority). The existing banks are determined to stop this happening, and Bank of Dave details his struggles against the established banking industry simply because he wants to create opportunities for his friends and neighbors. While the movie admits that it’s only “true(ish)”, the Bank of Dave true story is just as fascinating as the 2023 Netflix movie, even if there were many details changed from the real events.

Dave Fishwick From Bank Of Dave Is Real

The Netflix Movie Is About A Real Person, Who Really Did Try To Start His Own Bank

While director Chris Foggin and screenwriter Piers Ashworth exercised some creative license, the plot of the 2023 Netflix movie – as amazing as it seems – isn’t that different from the Bank of Dave true story. Despite the premise seeming like a fictional story, Dave Fishwick is a real person, and he really did try to start his own bank. Nothing about the premise of Bank of Dave was made up. It’s an adaptation of true-to-life events, which many viewers find surprising given just how well it fits the format of a classic underdog movie.

The real Dave Fishwick is a UK businessman, who made his fortune by starting his own minibus company, David Fishwick Minibus Sales, in 1994. His attempts to open his own bank as seen in Bank of Dave began in the years following the 2007-2008 financial crisis. Just like in the Netflix movie, Dave Fishwick was appalled that many of his customers, as well as businesses in the local community, were being denied loans. Seeing the stress and turmoil this caused them prompted him to action, and led him to open Burnley Savings and Loans in 2011.

Burnley Savings And Loans Never Became A Bank In Real Life

The Bank Of Dave True Story Saw BSAL Became A Peer To Peer Lender

In Bank of Dave, Dave Fishwick’s attempts to start his own bank are successful. Despite the efforts of the existing UK banks, the FSA granted him the deposit-taking license he needed after he was able to raise the £10,000,00 in reserve capital required. Burnley Savings and Loans became an officially regulated bank, through which Dave’s community would finally have access to fair financial conduct (such as granting loans to businesses and customers that could clearly repay them) that the established national banks didn’t offer. However, while this made a heartwarming ending to the 2023 Netflix movie, it’s also a significant deviation from the Bank of Dave true story.

While both the fictional and real Dave Fishwick managed to create the positive outcome for their community they’d hoped for, it’s completely understandable why the 2023 Netflix movie altered this detail of the
Bank of Dave
true story.

In real life, Dave Fishwick’s Burnley Savings and Loans was never granted a deposit-taking license by the FSA. This didn’t deter him, however. BSAL was still launched in 2011 with a consumer credit license and continues to operate to this day. Just as the real Dave Fishwick intended too, the presence of BSAL had a huge benefit to local businesses and the wider community. They still have access to the fair financial practices he’d hoped for, just under a slightly different model than he’d envisioned.

The real Burnley Savings and Loans from Bank of Dave isn’t technically a bank, but instead offers loans under a peer-to-peer crowdfunding model. It’s an interesting distinction and one that’s difficult to explain without some understanding of how various types of financial services work.

While both the fictional and real Dave Fishwick managed to create the positive outcome for their community they’d hoped for, it’s completely understandable why the 2023 Netflix movie altered this detail of the Bank of Dave true story.

Having the fictional Dave open his own bank made for a much more satisfying (and easy to explain) end to the underdog narrative, whereas trying to copy real events exactly would have slowed the pace of the plot and required a lot of exposition that the quirky UK movie simply didn’t need.

Sir Charles Denbigh Played No Part In The Bank Of Dave True Story

Hugh Bonneville’s Nefarious Banker Was Made Up For The Netflix Movie

Many of the changes made to the Bank of Dave true story to the Netflix movie were done so with a single goal – to make the already-uplifting real events better fit the narrative format of a film. One of the clearest examples of this is Hugh Bonneville’s character, Sir Charles Denbigh. Sir Charles is the main antagonist of Bank of Dave, and he behaves almost like a character in a UK gangster movie in his efforts to ensure Dave’s plan to get BSAL registered as an officially regulated bank are unsuccessful.

However, Sir Charles Denbigh isn’t a real person. The underhanded Sir Charles attempts to land Dave with a criminal record in Bank of Dave, which would ensure he could never get the license he needed from the FSA. In real life though, this never happened – nor did anything even close to it. While the real Dave Fishwick’s attempts to start his own bank likely ruffled some feathers, the UK financial industry didn’t go to any lengths to stop him.

Had the real Dave Fishwick of the Bank of Dave true story been successful, it would definitely have created a stir, as he’d have made Burnley Savings and Loans the first new officially licensed and regulated bank in over 150 years. However, the prospect didn’t prompt anyone like the fictional Sir Charles Denbigh to get involved, nor the UK banks to even consider such actions as those seen in the 2023 movie (despite being against his plans). In real life, the reason BSAL never became a bank is simply that Dave Fishwick didn’t get a deposit-taking license, and instead decided he could achieve his intended goals with a peer-to-peer lending model.

Def Leppard Never Played A Concert To Support The Real Dave From Bank Of Dave

They Appeared In The Movie Because Dave Fishwick Is A Fan

One of the most uplifting moments in Bank of Dave came when the fictional Dave Fishwick hosted a fundraising concert at Turf Moor, the soccer stadium of Burnley Football Club. The scene also came with an incredible cameo – the legendary 1980’s rock band Def Leppard. While it was certainly an inspiring turn of events for the movie, the concert seen in Bank of Dave never happened.

Def Leppard never traveled to the UK to help the real Dave Fishwick raise funds for his community-focused bank. There was never even a fundraising concert to begin with. This moment wasn’t taken from anything in the Bank of Dave true story and was completely fictional, created solely for the 2023 Netflix movie. The reason Def Leppard was chosen to be the band playing at the concert in Bank of Dave is simple too – the real Dave Fishwick is a huge fan.

The 2023 Movie Didn’t Make Up His Dedication To Altruism

Part of the reason Rory Kinnear’s Dave Fishwick in Bank of Dave is so endearing is that he bucks many tropes and trends associated with millionaires in movies. He’s not greedy or following any self-interest in his plans to open his own bank. Instead, he’s genuinely altruistic, and throughout the film it’s clear that he’s motivated by concern for his community with additional motives to see some kind of financial return.

This is something that the 2023 Netflix movie was completely accurate with when adapting the Bank of Dave true story for screens. Much like his fictional counterpart played by Rory Kinnear, the real Dave Fishwick goes out of his way to use his financial success to support both his local community, and the prospects of working-class people across the wider UK.

The man at the center of the
Bank of Dave
true story is known for just how dedicated he is to charity donations, with the majority of BSAL’s profits going to local food banks, schools, hospitals, and other community services.

Bank of Dave didn’t portray Dave Fishwick any differently from how he is in real life when it came to his dedication to uplifting his community. It didn’t make changes to his personality to make him more suitable as the hero of a Hollywood-style underdog story. It didn’t need to. The man at the center of the Bank of Dave true story is known for just how dedicated he is to charity donations, with the majority of BSAL’s profits going to local food banks, schools, hospitals, and other community services.

What’s more, the real Dave Fishwick has also used the media focus he gained in the UK while trying to get BSAL set up as a bank to expose other unfair financial practices. For example, he released his own investigative documentary Dave: Loan Ranger in 2014. He used the show to expose the many corrupt and harmful practices of payday loan companies that left many customers trapped in inescapable debt from borrowing incredibly small sums of money. There are many heartwarming aspects of the Bank of Dave true story, and the fact that the real Dave Fishwick is just as altruistic as he’s portrayed in the movie is one of the most uplifting of all.