NatWest Group PLC (LSE:NWG) has admitted to “serious failings” in the treatment of Nigel Farage and “clear shortcomings” in how the decision to close his bank account with subsidiary Coutts came about.
The high street lender was commenting after findings from the Travers Smith independent review into the decision to close Farage's account and a potential breach of confidentiality.
The debacle claimed the head of the previous chief executive Dame Alison Rose after she disclosed details of the account closure to the BBC’s Business Editor, Simon Jack.
The review did point out that Rose played no part in the decision to close the account, this was made at a Wealth Reputational Risk Committee meeting in November 2022.
The review found that on balance, the exit decision was predominantly a commercial decision.
Coutts considered its relationship with Farage to be commercially unviable because it was significantly loss-making, although Farage, the former leader of UKIP, insisted he lost the account due to his political views.
The review found that the bank had been compliant with legal obligations, including customer confidentiality and data protection laws, and that the exit decision was lawful.
But it also identified a number of shortcomings in how the decision was reached, how the bank communicated with Farage and how it treated his confidential information.
NatWest said it has accepted - and will implement - all of the recommendations made by Travers Smith.
The bank said it was considering these findings and deciding on appropriate outcomes, including a “disclosure obligation” with regard to Rose’s pay.
NatWest chairman Sir Howard Davies said: “This report sets out a number of serious failings in the treatment of Mr Farage.
“Although Travers Smith confirm the lawful basis for the exit decision, the findings set out clear shortcomings in how it was reached as well as failures in how we communicated with him and in relation to client confidentiality.”
“We apologise once again to Mr Farage for how he has been treated.”