The Northern town of Burnley may be miles away from London’s financial heart but one man there is showing up British banks for the embarrassment they’ve become.

The so-called Bank of Dave is the story of a medium-sized minibus business-come-banker to its own customers and was spawned after near-to-all banks reduced and tightened lending criteria during and after the financial crisis.

Dave Fishwick (the business) is the largest supplier of minibus and light commercial vehicles in the UK and when the credit crunch hit many of his customers were unable to get the funding needed to buy its vehicles.

So what began as a vehicle financing initiative has now expanded into general retail lending, with a ‘bank’ on Burnley’s high street.

There is, however, one small challenge.

Burnley Savings and Loans (it’s not actually called Bank of Dave) does not yet have a banking licence and is unlikely to get one. There has only been one new licence granted in 100 years in the UK.

That was Metro Bank in 2010.

Therefore while BS&L (Bank of Dave might actually be better!) may operate as a non-bank lender it can’t take deposits.

This is despite offering an eye-watering 5% (in the current near-zero rates environment) to pensioners, if it were to granted a full licence.

A new reality-documentary mini-series airs on Channel 4 this week – impeccable timing following the latest in a growing list of public trust shattering gaffs by the banking sector.

This time, it’s the Barclays triggered LIBOR scandal – and follows layer upon layer of recent stuff-ups by the financial sector (banker bonuses, trading scandals, credit card insurance mis-selling… to name but a few).

In short, the public has lost faith in the banking industry and the perceived ‘fat cats’ that sit atop it.

Dave Fishwick, it seems, is filling a void that banks continue to wax lyrical doesn’t exist.

That of simple old-style small local banking, a time when bank managers knew most of his customers by name.

Big banks spend millions of pounds with Saachi & Saachi et al to tell us how they haven’t lost touch with the communities they serve, yet this is exactly what the public feel (they’re correct too).

Contrastingly, from Thursday, many people will now know the name of one hopeful would-be bank manager from Lancashire – a region where they tell it how it is and don’t mince words.

A lesson there for all bank marketing executives perhaps?