Nigel Farage slams review that found there was no political discrimination in Coutts’ decision to shut his account as a ‘work of fiction’

Nigel Farage has slammed a review that found there was no political discrimination in Coutts’ decision to shut his account as a ‘work of fiction’.

The former Ukip and Brexit Party leader, now a television presenter, was dropped in June by the private bank, which is used by aristocrats and royalty and is owned by NatWest. He said it was over his Right-wing views.

It led to the resignation of NatWest chief executive Dame Alison Rose after she admitted breaching privacy rules by briefing a BBC reporter about his account.

An independent probe was then carried out by law firm Travers Smith which found there was no evidence of discrimination. 

Coutts closed about 900 accounts over a two-year period, including those of politicians known as politically exposed persons (PEPs), and not including inactive accounts or customers initiating the closure.

NatWest said lawyers at Travers Smith analysed 84 account closures in the two years to July 28, about a 10% sample of all the relevant cases in that time.

The report found that decision-making was appropriate and consistent with industry standards, and that there was no evidence of discrimination due to political views or affiliations, or any other protected characteristic.

However, Coutts said it recognises there are ‘lessons to be learned’ from the way it communicates with customers.

The first phase of the review found that the bank showed ‘serious failings’ in its treatment of Mr Farage, but that the decision to shut his account was lawful and predominately commercial. 

Responding to the findings, Mr Farage told The Telegraph: ‘The Travers Smith report is a work of fiction. It bears no relation to the contents of the documents disclosed by the bank as to the true reason why they closed my account.

‘The report does, however, admit that there are serious deficiencies in the way NatWest closes bank accounts in such a subjective fashion.

‘The NatWest group now needs to take a cold, hard look at their own procedures.’

Mohammad Syed, chief executive of Coutts, said: ‘Although Travers Smith confirm that, in general, decisions were appropriate and that there was no evidence of discrimination, it is clear there are lessons to be learned.

‘This report reaffirms that there were a number of shortcomings in our approach to account closures at Coutts and, in particular, in the quality and consistency of our communications.

‘The experience of some of our customers fell short of what they should expect and we apologise to them.

‘We are committed to implementing all of the recommendations made by Travers Smith, including comprehensively reviewing and updating exit and communication processes, so that we deliver a better, more consistent experience for all our customers.’