Nigel Farage was left angry and demanded answers when he realised his Coutts bank account had been closed (Picture: Shutterstock)
UK banks will now be subject to stricter conditions if they wish to close down a customer’s account after Nigel Farage’s was shut down by Coutts.
Mr Farage moaned about his bank account being shut down by the bank firm, owned by the NatWest Group.
The reason the private bank gave was it did not agree with Mr Farage’s political views.
It gave examples of his views, which included his retweet of a Ricky Gervais joke about trans women and his friendship with tennis player Novak Djokovic, who is opposed to Covid vaccinations, and flagged concerns he was ‘xenophobic and racist’.
A 40-page document into his suitability as an account holder also listed his views on Brexit and Russia.
‘Apparently, I’m a risk to them. I have virtually no links of any kind to Russia whatsoever. This is political. There is no other way of looking at it,’ he had told the BBC on Wednesday.
But following the controversy, banks will now have to give people a reason as to why they are shutting down their accounts.
It comes after Mr Farage demanded documents from Coutts following their decision to close his account earlier this year.
Banks will now have to tell customer’s why decisions were made to close bank accounts (Picture: Shutterstock)
The boss of NatWest Group Dame Alison Rose was forced to apologise to Mr Farage for ‘deeply inappropriate’ comments made about him in papers on his suitability as a Coutts customer.
In a letter sent to him, shes said she believed ‘very strongly that freedom of expression and access to banking are fundamental to our society and it is absolutely not our policy to exit a customer on the basis of legally held political and personal views’.
Previously banks did not have to provide a rationale behind the decision.
The government extended the notice period for a forced account closure from 30 days to 90 days, which it said gives customers more time to challenge the decision through the Financial Ombudsman Service or find a replacement bank.
Nigel Farage has since received an apology (Picture: AP)
Andrew Griffith, the economic secretary to the Treasury, said: ‘Freedom of speech is a cornerstone of our democracy, and it must be respected by all institutions.
‘Banks occupy a privileged place in society, and it is right that we fairly balance the rights of banks to act in their commercial interest, with the right for everyone to express themselves freely.
‘These changes will boost the rights of customers – providing real transparency, time to appeal and making it a much fairer playing field.’
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It comes after Nigel Farage moaned about his bank account being shut down.
