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Columnist Rod Liddle has hit out at Coutts Bank after Nigel Farage claimed his account was closed because of his views on Brexit, Donald Trump and gender ideology. The former Brexit Party leader obtained an internal report from the bank’s reputational risk team that was used to justify the closure via a subject access request. The Treasury has said banking firms will be forced to explain and delay any decision to close an account under new rules designed to protect freedom of expression. Joining TalkTV’s Mike Graham, Rod says: “It’s another step towards totalitarianism! This isn’t a storm in a tea cup, it’s an assault upon freedom of speech.” Dame Alison Rose, chief executive of NatWest Group, of which Coutts is part of the wealth management division, has written to Nigel Farage to apologise for “deeply inappropriate comments” made about him in official documents. In a statement released on Thursday, Dame Alison said: “Both freedom of expression and access to banking are fundamental to our society. It is not our policy to exit a customer on the basis of legally held political and personal views. Decisions to close an account are not taken lightly and involve a number of factors including commercial viability, reputational considerations, and legal and regulatory requirements. “I fully understand the public concern that the processes for bank account closure are not sufficiently transparent. Customers have a right to expect their bank to make consistent decisions against publicly available criteria. Those decisions should also be communicated clearly and openly with them, within the constraints imposed by the law. “To achieve this, wider change is required. But the experience of clients highlighted in recent days has shown we need act now to put our processes under scrutiny. “The deeply inappropriate comments made in the now published papers prepared for the Wealth Reputation Risk Committee, do not reflect the view of the bank. No individual should have to read such comments and I apologise to Mr Farage for this. I have written to him today to make that apology and reiterate our offer of alternative banking arrangements.” #nigelfarage #banks #bank #talktv #talkradio
