UK Bank Boss Apologises to Nigel Farage… But Doesn’t Reverse Decision to Terminate His Bank Account

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 02: Brexit Party leader and former MEP, Nigel Farage takes a se
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Oliver JJ Lane

Natwest chief executive Dame Alison Rose apologises for “deeply inappropriate comments” about Nigel Farage in now-public internal bank documents which led to him being debanked, but stopped short of actually changing their decision.

Dame Alison Rose said she wanted to “apologise for the deeply inappropriate comments about yourself made in the now published papers prepared for the Wealth Committee. I would like to make it clear that they do not reflect the view of the bank” on Thursday, weeks into a growing scandal over debanking in the United Kingdom.

Nigel Farage revealed the bank he has been a customer of for both his personal and business accounts for decades had suddenly and arbitrarily informed him that they would be closing his account last month. He attempted to open accounts at nine other UK banks, all of which turned him down, he said.

While there were claims the sudden debanking of the Brexit leader were not a political act — including an apparent effort to discredit Mr Farage’s claims by the banking house and the BBC — this week Farage published internal bank documents appearing to settle for good that the act was overwhelmingly political.

Among the charges laid against the politician by Coutts bank, is part of the Royal Bank of Scotland and Natwest group that was bailed out by the British taxpayer at colossal expense in 2008 and remains to this day partially state-owned, was that Mr Farage is close to Donald Trump and tennis player Novak Djokovic, and once retweeted a joke by comedian Ricky Gervais.

Among the claims made about Mr Farage apologised for today include the allegation that he is “xenophobic and racist”, “distasteful and [appears] increasingly out of touch with wider society”, and is “at odds with our position as an inclusive organisation”. The British government is allegedly responding to the controversy over the debanking by changing the licences under which banks operate, and will require them to protect freedom of speech in future.

While the apology appears at first to wish to make amends, it is nevertheless clear that the Natwest boss is making clear nothing changes.

Paradoxically, bank boss Rose claimed the lengthy internal bank document on which it made the decision to debank Mr Farage did not actually “reflect the view of the bank”. This is the latest instance of apparent say-one-thing-do-another from the bank, which in recent days has included briefing against Mr Farage to the BBC one moment and then hiding behind “client confidentiality” the next.

Dame Alison also made an offer of a NatWest account to Mr Farage, something which has been on the table since Farage first revealed the debanking move against him. Yet as he has made clear this is an offer for a personal account only — still leaving the Brexit leader with no access to a business account at this or any other UK bank — so the situation is far from resolved.

The letter mentioned nothing about reversing the decision, now revealed to be a political one, to close his original Coutts accounts.

The apology revealed there was to be a “full review of the Coutts processes for how these decisions are made and communicated”, and that the bank would “implement… any changes that they or the Government makes to the overall regulatory framework”, as if they had any choice.

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