LONDON (Reuters) – The heads of Britain’s biggest banks committed to the principle of “non-discrimination based on lawful freedom of expression” in a meeting with the financial services minister after a row over the handling of a former politician’s accounts.
Financial services minister Andrew Griffith said in a statement on Wednesday that the bank bosses had committed to bring their policies into line with planned government reforms as soon as possible
The government called the meeting after a string of damaging revelations over the past 10 days about the decision by NatWest’s private bank Coutts to close the accounts of former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage, partly because of his political views as well as commercial considerations.
The closure has drawn widespread condemnation from politicians including from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and Natwest’s CEO Alison Rose stepped down earlier on Wednesday in connection with the row.
(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Kate Holton and David Milliken)
