NatWest admits to ‘serious failings’ over treatment of Nigel Farage

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NatWest admitted to “serious failings” in the way its private bank Coutts treated Nigel Farage when it closed his account, and promised “substantive changes” to its procedures after the conclusion of a review by a law firm.

The UK lender on Friday published the results of a review by Travers Smith, which found that while the decision to cut off Farage as a client was primarily commercial and therefore lawful and in line with its policies, it failed to communicate the decision properly and then mishandled his complaint.

The report also concluded that former chief executive Dame Alison Rose gave a BBC journalist confidential information about Farage, in a move that “probably” broke data protection laws and may also have breached regulatory rules.

“This report sets out a number of serious failings in the treatment of Mr Farage,” said NatWest chair Sir Howard Davies. “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.”

This is a developing story