The boss of NatWest Group Plc is facing mounting political pressure to resign after she admitted speaking to a BBC journalist about the decision to close Nigel Farage’s bank account.
(Bloomberg) — The boss of NatWest Group Plc is facing mounting political pressure to resign after she admitted speaking to a BBC journalist about the decision to close Nigel Farage’s bank account.
A person familiar with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s thinking suggested Chief Executive Officer Alison Rose should consider her position. Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt has expressed significant concerns about Rose remaining in her post, another person familiar with the matter said.
Such a stance at No. 10 and the Treasury intensifies the pressure on the bank’s board to take action. The UK remains NatWest’s biggest shareholder about 15 years after the government rescued what was then Royal Bank of Scotland in a £45.5 billion bailout. It has been selling down its stake in recent years but still has about 39% of voting rights, according to a May 22 statement.
NatWest’s board said earlier Tuesday that Rose made an “error of judgment” and it could cut her pay as a result but that it still has full confidence in her leadership.
“As she recognises, she should not have spoken in the way she did,” Chairman Howard Davies said in the statement Tuesday. “This was a regrettable error of judgment on her part.”
The developments comes after days of scrutiny over the decision and speculation about the source of a July 4 BBC story that said Farage was dropped by Coutts — a UK bank for the wealthy owned by NatWest — because he no longer met their financial requirements. The BBC subsequently apologized to Farage, one of the most prominent politicians behind the UK’s 2016 decision to leave the European Union.
Rose said in the same Tuesday statement that she told BBC journalist Simon Jack that the bank saw the move to close Farage’s Coutts account as a commercial one. At the time, she hadn’t seen internal documents from NatWest’s subsidiary Coutts, she said. Those documents have since been released by Farage, showing Coutts felt his values did not align with its own.
Rose emphasized that she wasn’t part of the decision-making process to close Farage’s account and said she didn’t “reveal any personal financial information” about him.
“Put simply, I was wrong to respond to any question raised by the BBC about this case,” she said. “I want to extend my sincere apologies to Mr Farage for the personal hurt this has caused him and I have written to him today.”
The statements have done little to placate Farage, who called for Rose, Davies and Coutts CEO Peter Flavel to depart. “They should all go,” he tweeted.
The statements on Tuesday came after an earlier apology from Rose to Farage over his treatment, which did little to stem criticism from lawmakers and regulators. Banking executives have been summoned to a meeting at the Treasury on Wednesday to discuss the matter while Farage has lodged a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office over the dissemination of his personal information.
The Financial Conduct Authority said in a statement that it would decide if further action is necessary based on NatWest’s review and any steps taken by the ICO or the Financial Ombudsman Service.
The furore comes as NatWest prepares to report second-quarter results on Friday, with a management presentation scheduled for 9:30 a.m.
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