City and Treasury Minister Andrew Griffith has written to the UK’s financial watchdog urging it to prioritise a review into whether people are being denied bank accounts due to their political views.
Last week, the British political leader Nigel Farage claimed that Coutts, the prestigious private bank he had been with for over 40 years, has closed his bank account with “no explanation.
One of the reasons Mr. Farage said was that he believed he may have been deemed a politically exposed person (PEP), a term used for someone who, through their prominent position or influence, is more susceptible to being involved in bribery or corruption.
“While I recognise the importance of ensuring that appropriate measures are in place to prevent money laundering, it is crucial that an appropriate balance is struck and that these measures do not unduly burden or prevent democratically elected individuals, public officials, or their respective families from access to essential banking services,” he said.
“The government is clear that domestic PEPs (politically exposed persons) should be treated in a manner which is in line with their risk, and that banks should not be closing individuals’ accounts solely due to their status as a PEP,” he added.
Serious Concern
On Tuesday, the Treasury said it was already looking into whether banks and regulators were being too rigorous in how they handle PEPs, and making sure that UK-based politicians were being treated as less risky individuals than those in other countries.A Treasury spokesman said: “It would be a serious concern if financial services were being denied to those exercising the right to lawful free speech.”
The Epoch Times has not been able to verify these claims.
Coutts requires its customers to borrow or invest at least £1 million or save at least £3 million with the private bank, according to an eligibility questionnaire on its website.
Mr. Farage said in a video posted on Twitter after the BBC piece “They are telling the press I don’t meet their wealth threshold.”
He said he was then offered a standard account, not a business with NatWest, which owns Coutts, but only after speaking publicly about the issue last Thursday.
“Well, they never mentioned that before in the previous ten years. The worst of the story is, they denied to me on the phone on Friday I was a PEP.
“That is the reason Coutts will not have me, and Coutts are, frankly, being very, very dishonest indeed,” Mr. Farage said.
De-banking
Over the past few months, there have been increasing reports of de-banking, where banks suspend accounts with views and effectively decline services to a customer over political views.On Wednesday, a major bank allegedly refused to open a new business account for Our Duty, a group of more than 2,000 parents “who wish to protect their children from gender ideology.”
Restore Sanity
Tim Price, director at the investment management company Price Value Partners, told The Epoch Times that he'd like to think that this is a problem that “can be solved by the exercise of the free market itself.”“So the invisible hand will sort it out,” he said.
Mr. Price noted that there has been a series of high-profile market reactions that have been negative to companies pushing certain agendas.
“For example, the way that investors have targeted Bud Light that targeted Target, they’ve targeted Disney for some of this behaviour,” he said.
“If that doesn’t happen, then clearly we need some kind of regulation to restore sanity,” he added.
The Epoch Times contacted Coutts for a response.
