City watchdog the FCA says NatWest may have breached City regulations, as the bank today published an independent report into the closure of Nigel Farage’s bank account and subsequent leaking of details about his status with the bank.
NatWest today published a report from law firm Travers Smith that looked at both the closure of Farage’s account with Coutts and former NatWest boss Alison Rose revealing information that informed a BBC report. The report, later found to be inaccurate, claimed the decision was solely a commercial one. Farage later produced a dossier created by Coutts’ Reputational Risk Committee that noted many of his political views.
The report found NatWest “failed to treat [Farage] fairly” because , but that its decision to close his account was lawful.
“It did not amount to a direct or indirect breach of applicable laws and was made in accordance with the relevant bank policies and processes,” NatWest sad in its summary of the report.
However, it said that “confidential customer information concerning Mr Farage was conveyed, whether expressly or impliedly, from Alison Rose to the BBC” and this “probably” amounted to a breach of GDPR.
It also noted that Rose had not seen the dossier compiled on Farage.
Travers Smith said the question of whether any regulatory breaches was up to the FCA.
The FCA said: “We have reviewed the findings of the initial independent report, commissioned by NatWest, into decisions on potential account closures and data protection breaches. This report, and additional information we have considered, has highlighted potential regulatory breaches and a number of areas for improvement.”
Farage took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to call the report a “whitewash”.
”They say my political views 'not aligning with the bank' was not in itself a political decision,” he said. ”They also find no evidence my 'pro-Brexit' views were a factor, despite Brexit appearing 86 times in the SAR.”
The NatWest / Travers Smith report out this morning is a whitewash.
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) October 27, 2023
They say my political views “not aligning with the bank” was not in itself a political decision.
They also find no evidence my “pro-Brexit” views were a factor, despite Brexit appearing 86 times in the SAR. pic.twitter.com/dhKeXET3FT
NatWest chair Sir Howard Davies, said: "This report sets out a number of serious failings in the treatment of Mr Farage. Although Travers Smith confirm 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.
"Our job now is to make sure that does not happen again. The bank is committed to implementing all the recommendations made by Travers Smith and we are making substantive changes to our policies and procedures, in particular to ensure that the lawfully protected beliefs or opinions of customers do not play any role in our decision making.
"The Board is considering the findings and deciding on the appropriate outcomes on other matters. It is important we have regard to all necessary processes and due consideration of issues including the bank's obligations around privacy and confidentiality."
Commenting on the report, Alison Rose said: “I note the Travers Smith report this morning. This confirms everything I told the Board in July was correct. Both Travers Smith and the Information Commissioner's Office have concluded that I inadvertently confirmed what had already been widely reported, that Mr Farage held an account at Coutts. The ICO also concluded the ‘impact around this specific disclosure was minimal’
“Travers Smith is clear that ‘there was no leak of specific detailed financial information’. Travers Smith also confirmed I knew nothing about the comments made by Coutts staff about Mr Farage, which were deeply unpleasant and unfair.”
