NatWest boss ‘made critical error of judgement’ in discussing Farage financial institution accounts with BBC reporter
NatWest boss Dame Alison Rose has admitted she made a “serious error of judgement” when she mentioned Nigel Farage’s Coutts financial institution accounts with the BBC enterprise editor Simon Jack.
Last week Dame Alison apologised to the former UKIP leader for the closure of his accounts and ordered an instantaneous evaluation of the processes adopted by its Coutts subsidiary.
The NatWest board has stated it retains full confidence in Ms Rose as chief government of the financial institution however the occasions might be taken into consideration when deciding her remuneration.
The chairman of NatWest, Howard Davies, stated there have been “serious consequences” for the financial institution on account of the “unsatisfactory” dealing with of the closure of Mr Farage’s account.
The story first came to light when the BBC reported Mr Farage’s account was closed as he didn’t meet Coutt’s monetary thresholds.
Documents obtained by Mr Farage subsequently confirmed his political views and connections fashioned a part of the rationale.
The BBC, on Monday, apologised for the report.
Nigel Farage has referred to as on MPs to carry an inquiry into NatWest after one of many group’s banks, Coutts, closed his account.
Dame Alison stated she believed it was public data that Mr Farage was a Coutts buyer and had been supplied a NatWest account, and so confirmed these particulars to Mr Jack.
She stated she repeated the Coutts stance – which Mr Farage had publicised – that the financial institution noticed the account closures as a commercial decision.
“I would like to emphasise that in responding to Mr Jack’s questions I did not reveal any personal financial information about Mr Farage,” she added.
“In response to a general question about eligibility criteria required to bank with Coutts and NatWest I said that guidance on both was publicly available on their websites.
“In doing so, I recognise that I left Mr Jack with the impression that the choice to shut Mr Farage’s accounts was solely a business one.”
Dame Alison stated on the time of her dialog with Mr Jack she had not seen the fabric behind Coutts resolution to shut the accounts and was not a part of the choice making course of to shut the accounts.
Instead, she stated, Coutts advised her in April Mr Farage’s account was being closed for business causes.
“Put simply, I was wrong to respond to any question raised by the BBC about this case.”
The NatWest board believed it’s “clearly in the interest of all the bank’s shareholders and customers” that Dame Alison continues within the position.
“She has proved, over the last 4 years to be an outstanding leader of the institution, as demonstrated by our results,” Mr Davies stated.
Findings of the NatWest evaluation into the closing of Mr Farage’s accounts might be made public and the phrases of reference might be introduced shortly, the NatWest announcement stated.
The banking regulator stated it had raised issues with the NatWest group concerning the breach of buyer confidentiality.
“We made clear our expectation that these issues should be independently reviewed and note today’s statement from the NatWest group board confirming this will happen,” the Financial Conduct Authority stated.
“It is vital that the review is well resourced and those conducting it have access to all the necessary information and people in order to investigate what happened swiftly and fully.”