Nigel Farage gets apology from banking boss in Coutts row

Banking boss Dame Alison Rose has apologised to Nigel Farage for “deeply inappropriate” comments made about him in papers on his suitability as a Coutts customer.

In a letter to Mr Farage, the boss of NatWest Group, said the comments did not reflect the bank’s view.

UKIP’s ex-leader said his Coutts account was closed because it did not agree with his political views.

The government plans to force banks to explain account closures.

Dame Alison said as well as apologising to Mr Farage, she was “commissioning a full review of the Coutts’ processes” on bank account closures. Coutts, a private bank, is owned by the NatWest Group.

In the letter to Mr Farage she said she believed “very strongly that freedom of expression and access to banking are fundamental to our society and it is absolutely not our policy to exit a customer on the basis of legally held political and personal views”.

The apology comes after Brexiteer Mr Farage asked for documents from Coutts following their decision to close his account earlier this year.

Mr Farage obtained documents from a Coutts meeting in November last year reviewing his suitability as a client, which gave examples of his views, including his retweet of a Ricky Gervais joke about trans women and his friendship with tennis player Novak Djokovic, who is opposed to Covid vaccinations, to flag concerns that he was “xenophobic and racist”.

The 40-page document had mentioned Brexit and his alleged links to Russia.

“Apparently, I’m a risk to them. I have virtually no links of any kind to Russia whatsoever. This is political. There is no other way of looking at it,” he had told the BBC on Wednesday.

Dame Alison said that she as well as writing to Mr Farage she also had reiterated her offer of alternative banking arrangements.

She said she wanted to ensure they provide “a better, more transparent experience for all our customers in the future.”

Her apology to Mr Farage came after the Treasury announced on Thursday plans to subject UK banks to stricter rules over closing customer accounts.

Banks will have to explain why they are closing accounts and they will have to give a notice period of 90 days before closing an account, to allow people more time to appeal against the decision.

The new rules are likely to be brought in after the summer, the BBC understands.

The changes will not take away a bank’s right to close accounts of people deemed to be a reputational or political risk.

Instead, it will boost transparency for customers, the Treasury said.

Treasury minister Andrew Griffith said: “Banks occupy a privileged place in society and it is right that we fairly balance the rights of banks to act in their commercial interest with the right for everyone to express themselves freely.”

Dame Alison said she welcomed the plans and would implement the recommendations.