The smiley and friendly former employee used to be the face of the bank

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Halifax has hit the news recently as some people are fuming about new pronoun badges for staff. The bank shared a picture on Twitter of one of its badges, which had Gemma written on it with ‘she/her/hers’ underneath.

Some customers, however, took issue with the bank’s tweet and have threatened to close their account in response. Halifax tweeted: “We strive for inclusion, equality and quite simply, in doing what’s right. If you disagree with our values, you’re welcome to close your account.”

But for those who may or may not remember, friendly and smiley Brummie Howard used to be the face of the UK bank. But many are wondering where he is now?

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The 54-year-old worked as a bank cashier at Halifax and always hoped to become a bank manager. The bank looked through thousands of their employees to cast a big character to star in the advert and after the long search Howard was given the role which changed his life, reports ExaminerLive.

He wasn’t given much insight on what to expect, he was told to bring a suit, tie and passport. Just his luck he got to spend three weeks in the sun dancing away to Tom Jones hit song and even got some time off before planning to return to work.

But when the advert aired for the first time on Boxing Day in 2000 Howard was definitely not going to be returning to his normal life at the Sheldon branch of Halifax as the advert instantly shot up.

Things only got better for him starring in Halifax adverts that took him all around the world on location, and it’s safe to say he loved every single second.

He went on to release a top 20 UK single in 2005 and even made a cameo appearance in The Office Christmas special. He also tried his hand at musical theatre, starring in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers as Adam Pontipee.

However after the financial crisis in 2009, big banks started to scale back expenses as the eyes of the world began to scrutinise how they operated.

Which meant there were major cuts in the budget for adverts and the beginning of the end for everyone’s favourite Halifax worker. Howard continued to appear in smaller online videos for the bank but eventually left the bank in 2011 but as expected he was in high demand with other banks.

And in 2017 he made a cameo return to the world of advertising in an advert for Hotels.co. Howard later shocked fans when he made an appearance on popular dating show First Dates in March 2020.

More recently, Howard has partnered with savings app Nude, which encourages young people to get saving to buy their first home.

The app offers a savings and investment account which helps people aged 18-39 save up to £4,000 a year, with an added government bonus of £1,000.It has enlisted Howard to become its ‘human cash machine’, handing out real cash to people on the street in a bid to kick start their saving efforts.

In February 2021 he went on to appear on the TV show Hypothetical for its third season as a special guest. And still to this day people still remember him from his well known Halifax days.

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