Norwegian Is Being Sued By A Bank It Once Owned

Simple Flying

By Pranjal Pande

Published May 30, 2023

Norwegian has been sued over the naming rights for the bank it previously held a stake in.

Photo: Markus Mainka I Shutterstock.

Norwegian Air Shuttle is being sued by Bank Norwegian, an institution that the airline owned 17.5% of until 2019. The bank, now owned by Nordax Bank AB, is required by national law to market its full legal name in marketing. However, Norwegian contends it has the right to the 'Bank Norwegian' trademark and disputes the need to include Nordax in the Bank Norwegian legal name. This prompted the bank to sue the carrier to seek clarification.

Once owned by the carrier

In 2007, Norwegian launched a financial offshoot named Bank Norwegian, a digital financial services firm offering customers savings accounts, credit cards, and more. According to ch-aviation, the carrier owned 17.5% of the bank by 2019, when it decided to sell its stake due to financial troubles that eventually led to a restructuring in 2020.

In 2019, it sold its stake to Cidron Xingu Limited, including a brand licensing deal for the airline's name and colors. Two years later, Nordax Bank AB purchased and merged the bank into its operations, including the name. Officially, the bank is now known as "Bank Norwegian, a part of Nordax Bank AB," since national law requires any bank to declare its ownership interest in its name and marketing.

Photo: Bank Norwegian via Wikimedia Commons

This has caused some issues with Norwegian, which objects to a direct association with Nordax Bank AB or any third party in public marketing. Considering the airline no longer owns the bank, this would be a reasonable request, bar the previous brand licensing agreement.

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Norwegian said it still has the right to license the 'Bank Norwegian' name to other entities since it owns the trademark, and noted that the bank doesn't have the right to use it in conjunction with another name such as Nordax since this is a violation of the current licensing deal. The airline noted,

"We are surprised by the subpoena and believe this is something we could have solved in a friendly way, outside the legal system. In short, we disagree that the Swedish bank Nordax can use our brand as they have done since the acquisition, and we have asked them to change this."

Merete Gillund, Norwegian Bank’s head of new markets, said,

"We own the right to use the company name Bank Norwegian, and we believe that we have the same right to market our name."

Legal dispute and co-branded cards in threat

Unable to reach a solution, Bank Norwegian has sued the airline to seek legal clarification on the issue of trademark ownership and legal name declaration. While Norwegian is surprised, the bank is deeply unhappy and is threatening to review its co-branded credit card deals with the airline. Nordax said in its report,

"Given the initiated legal process and the planned graphic redesign [by Bank Norwegian], the bank plans to initiate a strategic review of the cooperation with the Norwegian Air Shuttle group in terms of the credit cards.”

Norwegian Air Shuttle Boeing 737 landing at Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport

Photo: Lukas Wunderlich / Shutterstock

Given how closely tied the bank is to the airline's likeness, it will be interesting to see if it ends the licensing deal and fully rebrands or comes to a settlement with the airline. For now, tensions remain high between the two parties which were once joined at the hip.