Nigel Farage has said parts of the internal documents about him compiled by his longtime bank Coutts call for his account to be closed because he does not support the diversity, policies and purposes of the bank, a claim likely to increase the pressure on lenders to clarify their reasons for shunning certain customers.
The former leader of the pro-Brexit UK Independence Party wrote in a Telegraph column on Tuesday that the 40-page report he obtained from Coutts, a unit of NatWest Group Plc, shows the bank discriminated against him on personal and political grounds.
Farage said his friendship with tennis player Novak Djokovic — a well known Covid vaccine skeptic — and his calls for the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights was among the evidence compiled by the bank. He declined to share the report, meaning Bloomberg couldn’t verify its contents.
“Our ability to respond is restricted by our obligations of client confidentiality,” a spokesperson for Coutts said in an emailed statement. “Decisions to close accounts are not taken lightly and take into account a number of factors including commercial viability, reputational considerations, and legal and regulatory requirements. As the client has previously confirmed, alternative banking arrangements have been offered within the wider group.”
Farage has previously said that Coutts contacted him last month to reiterate the move was a commercial decision and that he could open a personal banking account with NatWest. But “that doesn’t apply to the business account so frankly isn’t of much use to me,” Farage said at the time.
It is typical for Coutts to take into account public comments by a high-profile public figure, a person familiar with the matter said, who asked not to be named discussing internal processes. These would form part of the review but wouldn’t necessarily reflect the view of the company, the person said.
Farage, who describes the tone of the report as “accusatory and reproachful,” told Bloomberg News this week that he was considering his options, adding that the views of Coutts’ executives didn’t reflect those of the public.
“There’s nothing I’ve said or done that’s against the law in this country so what’s the issue? Why not just be a bank?”
(Adds Farage’s description of report’s tone in penultimate paragraph.)
