The findings of a review into Coutts’s debanking record have been labelled “a work of fiction” by Nigel Farage, whose account closures triggered the review.
The NatWest-owned private bank, which Mr. Farage said he had banked with for over 40 years, exited the broadcaster and former Brexit Party leader earlier this year without telling him the reason at the time.
Mr. Farage on Friday slammed the report produced by Travers Smith, a law firm appointed by NatWest to conduct the review, telling The Telegraph, “The Travers Smith report is a work of fiction. It bears no relation to the contents of the documents disclosed by the bank as to the true reason why they closed my account.”
On Friday, NatWest published findings of the second phase of the review in which Travers Smith examined a sample of 84 account closures out of 897 “potentially relevant” closures in the two years leading to Mr. Farage’s exit.
Mr. Farage said he found it “strange” that Travers Smith didn’t speak to him.
“They are critical of NatWest account closures and a lack of due process, however the idea that they found no evidence of political bias is laughable,” he said.
“All they needed to do was to read my Subject Access Request. Of course they should publish the whole thing. I don’t have any confidence in that firm at all.”
Commenting on Travers Smith’s findings on Friday, Mohammad Syed, chief executive of Coutts, apologised to customers whose experience “fell short of what they should expect” and said the bank is “committed to implementing all of the recommendations made by Travers Smith, including comprehensively reviewing and updating exit and communication processes, so that we deliver a better, more consistent experience for all our customers.”
The dossier Mr. Farage obtained in July shows that the bank’s WRRC supported the decision to exit Mr. Farage when his mortgage expired in July this year or earlier if an external team tasked to do monthly adverse press checks on him found things that amplify “the reputational risks” associated with banking him.
The document listed negative media reports on Mr. Farage’s comments under groupings such as “Climate denying/Anti Net Zero,” “Racism/Xenophobia/BLM/Antisemitism,” and “Russia/Pro Putin/RT Links.”
It also included a third-party comment that said there was “an extra cost attached to managing the accounts of high profile individuals such as [Mr. Farage].”
In findings published in October, Travers Smith said the paper was submitted to the committee ahead of the meeting, “not a record of the Exit Decision and its basis.”
The firm said it believes the concern over reputational risks was a supporting factor, not a “determining” one, as it was “highly probable” that Coutts would have kept Mr. Farage’s accounts despite the perceived reputational risks if the relationship was deemed to be commercially viable.
Mr. Farage’s account closure has led to the resignation of the CEOs of both NatWest and Coutts.
It has also led to scrutiny into how banks treat Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) while applying anti-money laundering rules.
Although he was no longer a politician at the time of his debanking, Mr. Farage initially speculated that the bank’s decision, and his failure at the time to find another bank, may be related to his PEP status.
On Saturday, The Treasury Lords Minister Baroness Vere of Norbiton introduced The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2023, making “clear that under the regulations the starting point for banks and other regulated firms in their treatment of domestic PEPs, or a family member or known close associate of a domestic PEP, must be to treat them as inherently lower risk than non-domestic PEPs.”
