NatWest today published an independent report showing “serious failings” in its treatment of Nigel Farage and the circumstances around the closure of the politician’s account earlier this year.
The report included aspects that City watchdog the FCA described as “potential regulatory breaches”.
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.”
Farage called the report a “whitewash”, questioning its finding that the closure of his account was “not a political decision”.
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.”
You can read the full report below:
