Rose decided to renounce a position that she held with the bank for three years following a career that spanned more than three decades at NatWest. The move comes in the context of increased scrutiny from the UK government regarding lenders that close bank accounts for political reasons.
Alison Rose issued an official statement for the BBC, in which she admitted that she made a serious error when she agreed to discuss Mr Farage’s relationship with the bank. In light of these events, bank CEOs were called into the UK Treasury to address concerns that they are terminating accounts because they disagree with the political beliefs of customers.
According to cnn.com, Nigel Farage previously revealed that he terminated a relationship with a major UK bank, which later turned out to be NatWest-owned Coutts. While original reports indicated that his account was closed for commercial reasons, CNN reports that Farage managed to obtain a copy of the bank’s internal report into why his accounts were closed. According to him, the report confirmed that his political views had played a role in the closure decision.
Specifically, the banking reached the conclusion that Farage could not remain a customer due to his publicly stated views, which were at odds with the bank’s position as an inclusive organization. The UK Treasury has proposed a new set of rules that will mandate banks to delay account closures and explain why they are terminating an account.
According to the UK Parliament, politically exposed persons (PEPs) are individuals who hold ‘prominent public functions,’ including Government Ministers and Members of Parliament. The law recognises the risk of PEPs abusing their positions for private gain and using the financial system to launder the proceeds of this abuse.
Under UK money laundering regulations, banks are required to perform stricter risk assessments for PEPs. However, CNN cited policing minister Chris Philp stating that these rules are applied in an over-zealous manner by banks, which is why some members of parliament have been unjustly impacted by them.
Rose wanted to make it clear that she had not been part of the decision to terminate Farage’s accounts. However, she did apologize publicly to Farage and emphasised that she shouldn’t have answered any questions about this case raised by the BBC.
Until NatWest finds a permanent replacement, Alison Rose will be replaced by Paul Thwaite, who is the current CEO of NatWest’s commercial and institutional business.
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