The private bank at the centre of a debanking storm has offered to reinstate the personal and business accounts of Nigel Farage.
The former Ukip leader said he was contacted by the new Coutts CEO Mo Syed by letter informing him of the U-turn.
Speaking on his GB News show on Monday evening, Mr. Farage said that while he thanked Mr. Syed for the decision, he would be pursuing the NatWest Group owned bank for compensation.
The former MEP said his bank account was unfairly shut down by Coutts because it did not agree with his political views.
NatWest has since announced an independent review, with lawyers probing the closure of Mr Farage’s account and other instances of debanking by Coutts.
“The new CEO of Coutts, Mo Syed, somebody who has held very senior positions within that bank, is now the boss and he has written to me to say I can keep both my personal and my business accounts,” Mr. Farage said.
“And that’s good and I thank him for it.”
But Mr Farage said “enormous harm” has been done to him in the last few months.
He added: “It has taken up a huge amount of my time and it has cost me, so far, quite a lot of money in legal fees so I have today sent a legal litigation letter to Coutts where I want some full apologies, I want some compensation for my costs, but – more important than all of that – I want a face-to-face meeting with the bank’s bosses.
Humiliation
Mr. Farage’s crusade against NatWest has led to the resignation of Chief Executive Dame Alison Rose and Coutts boss Peter Flavel, with his campaign on account closures receiving support from ministers and Tory MPs.In a strongly worded letter sent to Jeremy Hunt the group, which includes former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, accused the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of attempting to force a “change in culture and diversity of thought” in banks and finance firms.
The intervention came as former Mr. Farage launched his own website to take on the banks closing customer accounts.
He claimed to be in possession of information that shows that around 1,000 accounts are being closed a day by firms using similar in-house rules.
The former MEP told GB News, where he works as a presenter, that “every option is on the table” with regard to taking legal action against NatWest after it shared his personal information.
He told the broadcaster: “Nobody with a profile who has been debanked has come forward. Two reasons: one, a sense of shame, humiliation and embarrassment, but, secondly, it would damage their prospects of getting any other bank account.
“But what I’ve learnt is this—it isn’t just high-profile people with strong opinions that are being closed down by banks that have become completely politicised in the most extraordinary way.
“What I’ve learned in the three weeks since I came out, as it were … I’ve just been inundated by small businesses, by folk all round the country. People in absolute fear, terror, lives being ruined, thousands of businesses being closed. These are people who have done nothing wrong whatsoever.”
Political Pressure
Ms. Rose quit as chief executive of NatWest Group last month after admitting to briefing a BBC journalist on details surrounding one of Mr. Farage’s bank accounts.NatWest boss Sir Howard Davies said political reaction forced her out by making her position “untenable,” as the bank’s chairman vowed to stay on at the crisis-hit bank.
Speaking following her resignation, Mr. Davies insisted it is important for the stability of the bank that he remains on the board as he said he regretted losing a “great leader” in the controversy over Mr. Farage’s Coutts account.
Ms. Rose’s stepping down came shortly after the board said it had full confidence in her position as chief executive.
Explaining the turn of events, Mr. Howard said: “We believe that was a rational decision to make at the time. However, the reaction, the political reaction to that, was such that Alison and I then concluded, and the board supported the view, that her position was then untenable.
“She would be running the bank in the face of very difficult headwinds, and therefore we made a different decision.”
In the days leading up to her resignation, Ms. Rose faced pressure from ministers and political figures over her future at the bank.
Mr. Howard said: “The government, in the normal way during my eight years here, has not interfered with commercial decisions in this bank, and indeed I’m grateful to them for that. Clearly, these were very exceptional circumstances, and the Government took a view which was not the view that the board had taken.”
