Watchdog Sorry for Suggesting Bank Chief Breached Farage’s Data Protection Rights

NatWest file photo of NatWest's logo. Jonathan Brady/PA

The information watchdog apologised to Dame Alison Rose for giving the impression that the former CEO of NatWest Group breached Nigel Farage’s data protection rights.

In a statement issued on Monday, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said it has not conducted an investigation into Dame Alison’s actions, and that the rule breaches it found last month was by NatWest as the data controller.

Dame Alison stepped down in July after a conversation between her and the BBC’s business editor Simon Jack, led to an inaccurate BBC story about why Coutts, a private bank owned by the NatWest Group, had closed Mr. Farage’s accounts.

Mr. Farage, GB News host and former Brexit Party leader, subsequently filed a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Last month, the ICO issued a statement confirming its finding of two breaches, saying a bank employee shared information when they should not have done, and that by doing so they infringed the complainant’s data protection rights, but no action would be taken given the individual had “resigned her post” and the bank had commissioned its own investigation.

The watchdog subsequently said it was conducting an urgent review after Dame Alison “expressed concern about the reporting of her role in the matters brought to the ICO by Mr. Farage,” acknowledging the complaint was not against Dame Alison, who had not been given an opportunity to comment on any findings in relation to her role.

On Monday, the watchdog issued a formal apology, clarifying that its investigation was into NatWest’s role as the data controller, not actions of Dame Alison.

“The ICO recently investigated a complaint from Nigel Farage. The ICO’s investigation was solely into NatWest’s actions as a data controller,” the watchdog said.

“Our comments gave the impression that we had investigated the actions of Alison Rose, the former CEO of NatWest Group. This was incorrect. We confirm that we did not investigate Ms Rose’s actions, given that NatWest was the data controller under investigation.

“We accept that it would have been appropriate in the specific circumstances for us to have given Ms Rose an opportunity to comment on any findings in relation to her role and regret not doing so.

“Finally, we apologise to Ms. Rose for suggesting that we had made a finding that she breached the UK GDPR in respect of Mr. Farage when we had not investigated her. Our investigation did not find that Ms. Rose breached data protection law and we regret that our statement gave the impression that she did.”

Reform UK honorary president Nigel Farage listens during a party press conference in England on March 20, 2023. Carl Court/Getty Images

After Mr. Farage revealed at the end of June that Coutts had closed his bank accounts with “no explanation, the BBC published a story on July 18, citing an unnamed source saying it was a “commercial” decision, and said Mr. Farage had fallen below the bank’s financial threshold.

It came a day before the Mail Online published information Mr. Farage had obtained from Coutts through a subject access request, showing the bank’s Wealth Reputational Risk Committee (WRRC) sought to unboard him because his publicly-stated views were deemed at odds with the bank’s “position as an inclusive organisation.”

In a statement published on July 25, Dame Alison has said she didn’t reveal any personal financial information about Mr. Farage but made a “serious error of judgment” when she confirmed Mr. Farage was a Coutts customer, which she thought was public knowledge, and left the impression that the decision to close Mr. Farage’s accounts was “solely a commercial one.”

Dame Alison also said she had been informed in April that the exit of Mr. Farage was a commercial decision and had not seen the content of the WRRC document released to Mr. Farage when she spoke to the BBC journalist.

The BBC has also apologised to Mr. Farage over the story.

An external review ordered by NatWest Group concluded that “on balance,” the decision to close Mr. Farage’s accounts was predominantly “commercial.”

The report said Mr. Farage’s political views were only examined in the lense of reputational risks, and that 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 disputed the credibility of the report, claiming it had “whitewashed” the decision to close his bank accounts.