Brexit boss Nigel Farage is considering leading a class action lawsuit against the “debanking” practices of lenders in Britain as over 3,000 people have claimed to have had their accounts shut down.
Last year, Nigel Farage sparked a political firestorm in the UK after revealing that his accounts at the NatWest banking group were shut down for political reasons, including his ties to former President Donald Trump and for expressing views that do not “align” with the bank’s values. The scandal resulted in the sacking of NatWest CEO Dame Alison Rose after it was revealed that she had leaked the Brexit leader’s private financial details to the BBC while falsely trying to claim that the decision to debank Farage was not political.
In the wake of the scandal, Mr Farage set up a campaign to represent British citizens who have been unjustly debanked for political reasons or over issues such as banks refusing to work with cash businesses. A little more than six months since then, it has been revealed that nearly 3,000 people have told the campaign they believe they were debanked.
According to the Mail on Sunday, NatWest was cited the most by people claiming to have been debanked, making up 19.2 per cent of those who contacted the campaign. A further 57 individuals alleged that NatWest’s subsidiary Coutts, the same bank that closed Mr Farage’s accounts, had shut their accounts unfairly. Barclays was next on the list, with 412 allegations, HSBC with 245, and 172 at Lloyds. The banks all claimed that they do not shut down accounts over political differences.
Speaking to the paper, Mr Farage said: “Accountclosed.org is now potentially a very powerful tool to fight back against the debanking scandal and demonstrates the seriousness of this problem.”
“There is a very real possibility of class action. It is notable that, according to the research, NatWest is among the worst offenders,” he added.
Brexit’s Nigel Farage Officially Launches Campaign to Take on Big Bankshttps://t.co/F6QGwa3n5Z
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 30, 2023
The Brexit boss went on to say that he has told his lawyers to explore if NatWest had violated any laws by shutting down his account. Mr Farage said that he also plans to launch legal proceedings against the bank within the coming days if NatWest refuses to settle a compensation claim, cover his legal costs, and make a pledge to never shut down a customer’s account for political reasons again.
The potential suit could threaten plans by the government to sell off its taxpayer-owned shares in the bank. NatWest is currently 40 per cent owned by the UK public after it was given a £45.5 billion bailout during the 2008 financial crisis.
“I don’t think this organisation is fit for a public sale of shares until they have put to bed the issue with me, shown that there is going to be a change of culture within the organisation and proved that there is going to be a new management style,” Farage told The Telegraph last week.
“There has been no change of culture at the bank whatsoever. They are paying out £350 million in bonuses to the same people who abused me. I am left feeling that my efforts with this organisation have been in vain.
“I have had court papers ready for some time and unless they want to have a sensible conversation, I will issue them, which will make a public sale of shares very, very difficult indeed.”
NatWest has said that it has apologised to Mr Farage and that his “experience fell short of the standards that any customer should expect”. However, while the bank acknowledged that while customers may feel “frustration” when their accounts are closed, it claimed that it does not “exit customers based on their legally held political views and beliefs”, despite this having been comprehensively disproven in Farage’s case, at least.
Bankers Gloated and Celebrated Farage Debanking, Internal Messages Showhttps://t.co/NLuiGtYY04
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) October 24, 2023
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