Former NatWest Group PLC (LSE:NWG) boss Alison Rose has been hired by City law firm Mishcon de Reya to advise on its diversity, equity and inclusion strategy, a year after being ejected having overseen the de-banking of Nigel Farage.
Farage, now a Reform Party MP and formerly the leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), last year produced evidence that NatWest’s Coutts private banking business decided to close his account partly because his political views went against Coutts’ values.
Although Coutts cited Farage’s apparent failure to meet the bank's multimillion-pound account thresholds, the bank also contended that his alleged "xenophobic, chauvinistic and racist views" posed a reputational risk.
Rose resigned from NatWest last July after admitting a “serious error of judgement” in briefing a BBC journalist about the closure of Nigel Farage’s bank account.
Rose had her bonus scratched following the debacle, which led to an investigation by the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and a national discussion on the spike in debanking complaints.