The advert, published in The Times on 25 March, featured a black horse galloping past new homes under construction.

Prominent text in the advert claimed: “£19.5bn for social housing. And that’s just the start,” while a subheading read: “Everyone deserves a safe place to call home. That’s why we’ve provided £19.5bn to the social housing sector since 2018”, accompanied by the slogan “Helping Britain Prosper.”

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received a complaint that the advert implied Lloyds had donated £19.5bn in cash, whereas the funds were actually supplied through investment and commercial lending.

The ASA agreed, saying that the advert did not clarify where the money came from, and so a reader was likely to assume charitable giving rather than a financial arrangement.

Lloyds’ defence said its 2024 annual report showed it gave around £20bn to social housing since 2018, including through loans and capital markets.

The bank said The Times’ educated, higher-income readership would understand the context of the advert and infer that the £19.5bn was given commercially.

But the ASA concluded that the presentation of the advert was ambiguous and misleading.

As a result, the ASA has banned the advert in its current form. The watchdog said: “We told Lloyds Bank plc t/a Lloyds Banking Group not to misleadingly imply that they had donated money to social housing projects when that was not the case, and to ensure future ads did not mislead by omitting significant information that put claims into context.”

A Lloyds Banking Group spokesperson responded: “We acknowledge the ruling but respectfully disagree with this specific decision. We believe the advert was clear, aligned with the ASA’s standards of responsible advertising and will have been understood by any reasonable reader. It accurately reflected our commercial support for the social housing sector, and we remain committed to communicating this impact in a way that is transparent and easily understood by all audiences.”