“Serious failings” were made by NatWest in its treatment of Nigel Farage when it closed down his Coutts bank account, an independent review has found.
The report said the communication of the closure with the former UKIP leader did not follow the bank's policies. However, the report found the closure was lawful, and based mainly on commercial reasons.
Mr Farage said the report was a “whitewash”, calling some findings “laughable”. He accused the law firm Travers Smith, which conducted the investigation, of having taken a “mealy-mouthed approach to this complex issue”.
Mr Farage, a prominent Brexiteer, said earlier this year that Coutts, the prestigious private bank for the wealthy and owned by NatWest, planned to shut down his account and that he had not been given a reason. The BBC reported that his account was being closed because he no longer met the wealth threshold for Coutts, citing a source familiar with the matter.
However, the politician later obtained a report from the Bank which indicated his political views were also considered. The fallout let to NatWest's chief executive, Dame Alison Rose, resigning after admitting she had made a mistake in speaking about Mr Farage's relationship with the bank.
Travers Smith found the decision to close Mr Farage's Coutts account was “predominantly a commercial decision” and said the bank “considered its relationship with Mr Farage to be commercially unviable because it was significantly loss-making”.
It found other factors were considered including Coutts' reputation with customers, staff and investors due to Mr Farage's public statements on issues such as the environment, race, gender and migration.
Travers Smith said these public views were not a determining factor in closing his Coutts account, but they did “consider them to have supported the decision”.
It concluded that Coutts “had a contractual right” to close Mr Farage's account and the decision was made in line with policies, but added the way it was communicated to him was not, with “no adequate reasons” provided.
NatWest apologised for the “unacceptable failures”.
Sir Howard Davies, NatWest Group chairman, said although the investigation confirmed “the lawful basis for the exit decision, the findings set out clear shortcomings in how it was reached as well as failures in how we communicated with him and in relation to client confidentiality”.
“We apologise once again to Mr Farage for how he has been treated. His experience fell short of the standards that any customer should expect,” he added. Earlier this week, the Information Commissioner's Office concluded that Dame Alison had breached Mr Farage's privacy rights.
— CutC by bbc.com
