The CEO of NatWest Group, Alison Rose, has published a grovelling apology and admitted she was the BBC’s source over claims Coutts closed Nigel Farage’s bank account because he had fallen below a wealth threshold, rather than because of his political views.
A statement just published by NatWest says the board has concluded it “retains full confidence in Ms Rose as CEO of the bank”, but says the “regrettable error of judgement on her part” may threaten her future remuneration.
The board says they are “clear” that the handling of the circumstances surrounding Mr Farage’s bank account has been “unsatisfactory” and has led to “serious consequences for the bank”.
“The Board will commission an independent review into the account closure arrangement at Coutts, and the lessons to be learnt from this.”
Ms Rose admitted she was the source of the BBC’s story, which has since been amended to acknowledge its inaccuracy.
She says: “I recognise that in my conversations with Simon Jack of the BBC, I made a serious error of judgment in discussing Mr Farage’s relationship with the bank”.
“Put simply, I was wrong to respond to any question raised by the BBC about this case. 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.
“I would like to say sorry to the Board and my colleagues.”
After days of Mr Farage demanding to know, Ms Rose says she “was not part of the decision-making process to exit Mr Farage”.
She says the decision was made independently by Coutts, and she was informed in April “that this was for commercial reasons”.
Ms Rose says that when she spoke to the BBC’s Simon Jack at a charity dinner the night before he published the claims about Mr Farage’s wealth, she was “not in receipt of the contents of the Coutts Wealth Reputational Risk Committee materials” that were published by Nigel Farage last week.
“I have apologised to Mr Farage for the deeply inappropriate language contained in those papers and the Board has commissioned a full independent review into the decision and process to ensure that this cannot happen again.”
Mr Farage is yet to comment on NatWest’s statement.
Richard Tice, the leader of the Brexit Party, has said Ms Rose must resign over the debacle, and said she is “clinging on” to her £5 million-a-year job.
He added that if she and the NatWest board think she can remain, it gives “free licence” to “all bank managers to breach client confidentiality as they feel.”
