Chancellor orders investigation into bank account closures.

 

There's some evidence that people have had bank accounts closed because they have expressed opinions that were deemed to be unacceptable or not in accord, with the values of a banking institution.

The former UKIP leader, Nigel Farage, is perhaps the most high-profile person to have had bank accounts closed. He had two accounts closed by Coutts, who initially said they had closed his accounts because Farage didn't meet their "wealth threshold." Coutts, is owned by NatWest, and the British government has a 38.6% shareholding in NatWest.   Farage submitted a "Subject Access Requests" and found that his accounts had been closed because of his personal and political opinions. The 40 pages of personal data that he received from Coutts, confirmed that he did meet their wealth threshold, but a bank employee wrote:

"It's clear to me that NF has - and projects - xenophobic, chauvinistic and racist views, even though this is done within the law, or framed with sufficient ambiguity to claim misquoting by his critics."

The Coutts report, referred to Farage's criticism of migrant boat arrivals, support for Brexit, and how he'd compared 'The Black Lives Matter' movement, to the Taliban. It also alludes to his support of Enoch Powell, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, and his use of anti-Semitic tropes. The report referred Farage as a "disingenuous grifter.'  Coutts, concluded that there was a risk of reputational damage for the bank in having Farage as a customer.

The Farage affair has been a public relations disaster for both Coutts and NatWest. It has led to the resignation of both Dame Alison Rose, the CEO of NatWest and Peter Flavel, the CEO, of Coutts. The bank and the BBC had to apologise to Nigel Farage for misleading comments and he's now been offered his accounts back at Coutts. Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has now called on the Financial Conduct Authority (FCO) to conduct an investigation into bank account closures.

What concerns many people in this country, is the extent to which institutions like banks, are setting themselves up as the self-righteous arbiters of what is deemed acceptable and unacceptable in public discourse. Clearly, this as serious consequences for both free speech in Britain and for people being able to access financial services.

Many people have now come forward with their tales about how they had bank accounts closed and were in many instances, unable to access their money, in frozen bank accounts. These people didn't have the political clout of Nigel Farage or their own TV show, so nobody took the slightest bit of interest. Hopefully, measures will now be introduced to make the system more transparent and to give banking customers the right to notice, an explanation, and the right to challenge decisions by appeal.