By The Daily Telegraph - Gordon Rayner, ASSOCIATE EDITOR; Daniel Martin, DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR and Louisa Clarence-Smith, EDUCATION EDITOR - 19 July 2023 • 9:19 pm

The chief executive of NatWest is under mounting pressure over the closure of Nigel Farage’s bank accounts after the Prime Minister spoke out against the “wrong” decision. Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman lead criticism as Dame Alison Rose under fire over BBC briefing

Senior MPs said Dame Alison Rose should “take responsibility” after documents showed Mr. Farage was targeted by Coutts, a subsidiary of NatWest, because of his political views.

The Telegraph can disclose that Dame Alison sat next to Simon Jack, the BBC’s business editor, at a charity dinner the night before Mr. Jack wrote a story claiming Mr. Farage had been de-banked for “commercial” reasons – a story now described as “concerning” by the banking watchdog.

Both the BBC and NatWest both refused to comment or answer any questions about the dinner.

Responding to news that Mr. Jack and Dame Alison had dined together before the BBC published its story, Mr. Farage said: “They are all part of the same, metropolitan elite, Remainer club.”

Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, described the blacklisting of Mr. Farage as “sinister” and Rishi Sunak promised to “crackdown” on banks that de-bank customers simply for exercising their right to free speech.

The Telegraph understands that new laws could be announced as soon as Thursday to prevent banks from turning customers away on the basis of their views or beliefs.

It is understood that plans are also being drawn up which could mean banks’ licenses are removed if they target customers over their views.

On Wednesday the Financial Conduct Authority, the banking regulator, said it was in contact with NatWest, while a Treasury minister is understood to have spoken to Dame Alison.

Mr. Farage has accused Coutts of being more interested in imposing a woke agenda than ensuring it provides the best value for its shareholders, who include the British public.

The NatWest group, of which Coutts is a subsidiary offering private banking to the wealthy, is 39 percent owned by the taxpayer after it was bailed out by the Labour government during the 2008 financial crisis.

Dame Alison faces questions over whether she was sent a dossier on Mr Farage – which said his views “do not align with our values” – before the decision was taken to close his accounts.

Peter Bone, a former Conservative deputy leader of the House of Commons, said: “To say she has serious questions to answer is mild.

“Dame Alison is the head, and the person at the top normally takes responsibility when a company has done something dreadful. In that case, she should go.”

David Jones, a former Cabinet minister, said: “The buck stops with the person at the top. I certainly think she should go, she’s presided over this. This is a disgrace to banking.

“There was no good financial reason for taking away Nigel Farage’s account and it’s quite clear from the documents that it was straightforward censorship. Frankly, it looks like wokeism on the part of certain officials at Coutts.”

Writing in The Telegraph, Lord Frost, the former minister of state at the Cabinet Office, says that “executives who close banking facilities for political reasons should not be considered ‘fit and proper’ people to run banks”.

Dame Alison and Mr. Jack sat together at the BBC Correspondents’ Charity Dinner at London’s Langham Hotel on July 3, the day before Mr. Jack published a story on the BBC website saying Mr. Farage had been rejected because his finances did not meet a threshold set by Coutts. The story quoted “people familiar with Coutts’ move”.

Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority, told the Treasury select committee that the leak to the BBC about Mr. Farage’s finances was “concerning”.

Lord Macpherson, a Conservative peer and former permanent secretary to the Treasury, told Andrew Marr on LBC that he was worried that the bank had commented on Mr Farage’s finances.

Asked if the country was in a dangerous place owing to the closure of Mr. Farage’s bank account, Lord Macpherson said: “I think this is a worrying development.

“I also am worried that the bank had commented on Mr. Farage’s income and wealth in public, at least it appeared to brief newspapers last week or the week before.

“And I think the Government is responding to wider unease amongst all of us. Getting a good service out of your bank is difficult enough at the best of times, but if they’re just going to make, on the face of it, fairly arbitrary decisions about your beliefs or politics, I think that is quite a dangerous development.”

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, accused NatWest of lying about the reason Mr Farage’s account was closed.

He said: “NatWest disclosed confidential details about Farage’s account to the BBC and lied about the commercial viability of his account, actions which ought to jeopardize its banking license and should certainly worry NatWest’s 19 million other customers.”

Coutts compiled a background dossier on Mr. Farage – published by The Telegraph – which drew attention to everything from his views on Brexit, immigration, and LGBT rights to his friendships with Donald Trump and Novak Djokovic.

He was referred to as xenophobic and racist and the bank’s Wealth Reputational Risk Committee concluded that his views were not “compatible” with the bank’s “values or purpose”.

Mr. Sunak responded to The Telegraph’s disclosure of the dossier by saying:

He had previously been asked in the House of Commons by Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg whether he shared the former business secretary’s “unease” about the development, to which the Prime Minister replied: “It wouldn’t be right if financial services were being denied to anyone exercising their right to lawful free speech.”

Andrew Griffith, the City minister, spoke to Dame Alison on Tuesday night to tell her the Government was concerned and to ask her what was going on.

Mr. Griffith is also said to be considering forcing banks to disclose how many accounts are closed down for non-financial reasons every year.

He made it clear that banks could lose their licenses if they unfairly target customers, saying:

Mr. Griffith has asked civil servants to explore adding free speech protections to banking licenses, according to Whitehall sources.

The move would mean any bank that discriminates against a customer because of their political beliefs could have their license revoked.

Separately, payment service providers and banks will be told as soon as Thursday that they must not discriminate against customers on the basis of belief.

The Treasury is preparing to enforce it by strengthening the Financial Conduct Authority’s “Principles for Business”.

Principle Six, which states that “a firm must pay due regard to the interests of its customers and treat them fairly”, will be updated to refer to political beliefs, said insiders.

It will also say that banks must give three months’ notice of services being terminated and due notice must be given to enable appeals.

Mr. Rathi told the Treasury select committee the law is clear that banks cannot discriminate on the basis of political views.

He said that if Mr. Farage contacted the Financial Ombudsman Service and he found against the bank, the FCA could investigate.

Mr. Farage said he has not yet had time to write to the ombudsman but will be doing so.

Talking about freedom of speech, Mr. Rathi said: “Anybody who feels that their bank has not treated them fairly can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service, who will look at the information the bank and the customer provide and can direct the bank to reopen the account if they feel the customer has been unfairly treated.

“The Payment Accounts Regulations in the UK, which are transposed from European Union laws, say ... you are not able to discriminate on the basis of political views. That’s in the legislation.

“As you would expect, we are talking to NatWest Group about this.”

He said that if Mr. Farage’s complaint was upheld by the ombudsman, “of course it would be relevant for us from a supervisory perspective”.

Mr. Rathi added: “We would obviously be concerned if they’d been in breach of data protection.”

‘Absolutely disgraceful’

Mr Farage is thought to be just one of the thousands of people who have been denied bank accounts for political reasons. They include children of little-known Tory peers who were told they could not have a bank account after being asked about their parents.

There are now calls for senior executives of Coutts and NatWest to be summoned before a parliamentary committee to explain their actions, their policies, and the extent of the de-banking scandal.

Grant Shapps, the Energy Secretary, said: “I think it is absolutely disgraceful. I don’t have to agree with everything Nigel Farage says to recognize that free speech is a very important part of our domestic life.

“What has happened with some of these banks through this regime, which is known as the PEP regime, or politically exposed people, is really actually scandalous.

“People shouldn’t have their bank accounts closed because of their political or any other view. And banks shouldn’t be refusing to open accounts on that basis as well.”

Speaking to Evan Davis on Radio 4’s PM program, Anthony Browne, a Conservative MP and former chief executive of the British Bankers’ Association, said: “It would be so chilling on freedom of speech in this country if basically bank managers turn themselves into censors and start policing people and dictating what right-think is and what wrong-think is. It’s a real abuse of power by bankers.”

He went on to say: “Losing your bank account is incredibly serious. Often if you lose an account at one bank, you find it very difficult to open a new account at another bank. It’s very difficult to survive in modern society without a bank account.”

Starmer refuses to support Farage

In the House of Lords, three Labour peers backed Mr. Farage, including Lord Blunkett, the former home secretary, who said: “I’m fully in favor of the Government protecting the rights of the ‘Coutts One’.”

But Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, refused to come out in support of Mr Farage. A spokesman for the Labour leader said the situation was “contested” and that it was not appropriate to comment.

Lord Lamont, a former chancellor, asked the Government to ensure cases are “referred to the regulator and investigated”.

He said: “It’s not for a bank to judge whether someone’s personal political views accord with the so-called values of the bank – that is not a reason for closing an account.

“Equally it’s not for a bank to judge whether someone’s views are out of tone with wider society and then use that as a pretext for closing an account.

“Is this not a fundamental issue which ought to concern every one of every party – Left, Right, Center or flat earth – who all might be the next person to suffer under what is happening?”

A Coutts spokesman said: “We recognize the substantial interest in this case. We cannot comment on the detail given our customer confidentiality obligations.

“However, it is not Coutts’s policy to close customer accounts solely on the basis of legally-held political and personal views.

“Decisions to close an account are not taken lightly and involve a number of factors including commercial viability, reputational considerations, and legal and regulatory requirements.

“We recognize the critical importance of access to banking. When it became clear that our client was unable to secure banking facilities elsewhere, and as he has confirmed publicly, he was offered alternative banking facilities with NatWest. That offer stands.

“We understand the public concern that the processes for ending a customer relationship, and how that is communicated, are not sufficiently transparent. We welcome the anticipated HM Treasury recommendations in this area, alongside the ask to prioritize the review of the regulatory rules relating to politically exposed persons.

“We look forward to working with Government, the regulator, and the wider industry to ensure that universal access to banking is maintained.”

Mr. Farage, however, disputed the claim that NatWest had offered him alternative banking facilities, saying he had received nothing in writing and only a verbal offer of a current account, with no offer of a business account.

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